Heisuke Mashimo

**Heisuke Mashimo** (眞ま霜しも平へい助すけ, *Mashimo Heisuke*?) is a supporting character in Sakamoto Days. He is a low-ranking assassin with a talent for sniping, but nothing else. Due to his lack of diversity in his skills, he struggled to find employment and was forced to live on top of a building in a severely damaged tent.

Heisuke owns a bird named Piisuke, whom he shares a close bond with.

## Appearance

Heisuke is a tall, young man with a muscular build. He has spiky brown hair and black eyes and fair skin.

Heisuke has a bandage on the bridge of his nose and a crosshair on his right cheek. He wears a black jacket with a green line across his chest and a patch on the left shoulder, green camo shorts, black socks, boots and a backpack.

## Personality

Heisuke can be described as childish. He is a simple-minded, emotional man who is optimistic and friendly. Heisuke is prone to tears, even more so than the average person, a trait that is worsened by his low self-esteem.

His air headedness shows in his thoughts, which are portrayed as crude drawings when viewed by Shin's clairvoyance. He was unable to realize who Sakamoto was upon entering his store to kill him, eventually being redirected away with a bag of pork buns.

Despite this, Heisuke has incredible willpower and still has an emotionless side to him. Upon realizing he was teaming up with Sakamoto, he immediately turned his rifle on him. When on a mission, personal allegiances do not matter to Heisuke, as the only thing that he sees is a target. However, once he improves his relationship with them, he displays a loyal side. He is determined to prove himself to others, refusing to let his newfound friends eat their words about him being the best sniper.

He has a soft spot for children, frantically trying to comfort an upset Hana. He also dislikes liars and has the tendency to insert "Yo" into his sentences.

## History

Throughout his entire life, Heisuke was bad at everything but sharpshooting, something he noticed early on. Despite his inability to do anything other than shoot, Heisuke managed to graduate from the assassin academy and get hired by an agency where he introduced himself and expresses that, whilst incapability in almost every aspect of life, he'll try his very best. However, this immediately earned him the disdain of one of his superiors, who saw having an employee with only a single talent as worthless. Eventually, as Heisuke went on different missions, his uselessness was fully recognized by the rest of his colleagues, ultimately leading to him getting fired. He soon went into a downward spiral, eventually becoming so poor now lives in his grandma's old patchwork tent on top of a building with no friends, except his pet bird, Piisuke.

## Story

### Assassin Killer Arc

Heisuke contemplated how much it took to feed him and his bird, Piisuke, in one month. He then wished he could fill up his belly and decided to go and kill Sakamoto for his bounty. Upon getting to Sakamoto's store, he asked Shin for Sakamoto's whereabouts. But because of his stupidity, he was immediately deceived into believing that Sakamoto wasn't there and left, but not before getting a bag of pork buns. He then entered an air soft tournament in order to get the grand prize of one million yen and turn his luck around. However, he was initially denied participation due to him being only one person. He met Sakamoto and Shin and convinced them to let him join their team. He began to show his sharpshooting skill, however due to Lu's carelessness, he realized the truth about Sakamoto and immediately turned on him. He confronted Sakamoto and Shin, injuring Sakamoto two times and cornering them both due to his skill. However, he was defeated when Shin startled him, allowing him to sense his thoughts and alerting Sakamoto to his location. His rifle was destroyed with a simple rock thrown by Sakamoto, and he was ultimately defeated. He won the air soft tournament with Sakamoto and Shin, and received his share of the prize money, fifty yen.

## Abilities and Powers

**Master Marksman**: Heisuke's ability to use a sniper rifle is unparalleled. He had a natural talent for sharpshooting, which he honed to incredible levels as a student. Heisuke was able to assemble his rifle, line it up with Sakamoto's forehead and fire during the brief time he was leaping backwards. During the airsoft tournament, he was able to take out four players in an instant. His skill was recognized by Sakamoto, who stated he never fought such an extraordinary sniper before.

In his academy days, he was able to assemble a gun and fire it 96 times, an unbeaten, all-time record that even Sakamoto couldn't challenge. He has since become a legend among JCC students, who call him "Dragoon".

**Enhanced Durability:** Heisuke was able to continue sniping even after being stabbed in the abdomen. As expected of an assassin, he appears to have a higher tolerance to pain.

### Equipment

**Sniper:** Heisuke utilizes a bolt action rifle with a scope and iron sight.

**Richochet Rounds:** Heisuke owns rounds capable of rebounding off objects. This allows him to attack targets in areas which would otherwise be impossible to access with conventional rounds.

**Piisuke:** Heisuke owns a small bird that sports a belt of pouches around its neck. According to him, it costs 20,000 Yen to feed Piisuke for a month. Piisuke is able to help Heisuke improve his visibility on the battlefield, much like a normal sniper.

## Etymology

* The name **Heisuke** means "flat, broad, level, even, peaceful" (平) (**hei**) and "help, rescue, assist/assistant/assistance" (助) (**suke**).
* Heisuke's surname **Mashimo** means "truth, reality, Buddhist sect" (眞) (**ma**) and "frost, hoarfrost" (霜) (**shimo**).

## Trivia

* Heisuke ranked 10th place in the manga's 1st Character Popularity with 2,281 votes.
* Heisuke ranked 1st place in the top 10 greatest shooters of all time at the JCC, having scored 96 points.

1. ↑ *Sakamoto Days* Manga: Chapter 75 (Page 11)