Takashi Shiginuma

**Takashi Shiginuma** (四木沼 喬 *Shiginuma Takashi*) is the eldest son of the noble Shiginuma family whose father later had an affair with one of his female servants, resulting in the birth of Akira Kougami.

## Appearance

Takashi is a tall, handsome man with black hair that has bangs hanging on either side with a hair strand hanging in the middle of his forehead while he also has another hair strand sticking up on his forehead and yellow eyes where his right eye is covered with an eyepatch due to an accident in his younger years.

He wears a brown western suit over a white shirt and a black waistcoat, accompanied with a dark purple tie, black gloves and brown shoes. On the right side of his jacket is a crow feather decoration and he is often seen carrying around a walking stick with a sword concealed in the body.

## Personality

Takashi is a serious but sinister man who would do anything to get what he wants, even through criminal means in a gentlemanly manner. He is also very manipulative as he forces Akira Kougami to become his underdog by making him infiltrate Fukurou as a mole through violent means. However, he is kind towards Shouko Shiginuma as he prioritizes her safety before his.

## Biography

Takashi was eventually arranged to marry Shouko Shiginuma, despite his hatred towards Shouko's father. He is friends with Professor Shirou Mozuyama and Touichirou Sasagoi. Takashi is also the head of "Karasu", an organisation that sells all the fake Japanese style books in shops and he auctions them at party events he holds at his headquarters, "Nachtigal". He has a lot of connections and knows all the secrets about the lab experiments and the auras.

## Relationships

### Family

#### Akira Kougami

Akira is Takashi's younger half-brother whom he looks down upon since Akira was an illegitimate child from a female servant his father had an affair with. Takashi also blamed Akira for an incident which caused him to lose the use of his right eye. He became very manipulative with Akira, by making him join Fukurou as a spy in order to infiltrate the headquarters and update him of their activities. However, Akira soon went against him when he started threatening Tsugumi Kuze and attempted to rape her before was soon defeated by Akira.

#### Shouko Shiginuma

Shouko is Takashi's wife whose father arranged for her to be married to him after Rui Sagisawa (Shouko's biological son) was snatched from her. However, Takashi has no knowledge of Rui nor Shouko's incident with Shirou Mozuyama. While Shouko was aware of Takashi's criminal activities, she still loved and cared for him that she told Tsugumi Kuze she will stay at "Nachtigal" in order to stop her husband from committing crimes. Takashi does care for Shouko and prioritizes her safety before his own that he heads for Europe with her in the end.

### Other

#### Tsugumi Kuze

Takashi first met Tsugumi when she attended his party at "Nachtigal" with Shougo Ukai where he became interested in her ability to see "auras" and attempted to persuade her to join "Karasu" for that purpose. Tsugumi refused which led him to start threatening her of her beloved ones unless she joined "Karasu". He eventually kidnapped her and brought her back to "Nachtigal" where he revealed that he also has the ability to see "auras". Takashi, who was also entranced by Tsugumi's beauty and family status, decided to rape her with intentions of impregnating her with a child who will have their abilities to see "auras" and he also planned to take her to Europe to put his plan into action. However, his plan was foiled when Fukurou came to save her.

## Episode Appearances

* Episode 4
* Episode 7
* Episode 9
* Episode 10
* Episode 11
* Episode 12

## Etymology

* The name **Takashi** means "high, boasting" (喬).
* Takash's surname **Shiginuma** means "four" (四) (**shi**), "tree, wood" (木) (**ki**/**gi**) and "swamp, pond, bog, lake" (沼) (**numa**).

## Trivia

* Takashi can see auras of the "cursed tomes".