Tomokazu Yamashiro

**Tomokazu Yamashiro** (Japanese: **山代 友和**, **Yamashiro Tomokazu**) is an outside hitter and the defensive specialist of the **Golden Generation** (Japanese: **黄金世代**, *Kogane Sedai*) Group of the **Kiyose Higashi Academy Boy's Volleyball Team** (Japanese: **清瀬東 学院 男のバレーボール分隊**, **Kiyose Higashi Gakuen Danshi no Bareboru Chimu**) as well as for the Tokyo Brilliant Railway Division 1 Team.

## Appearance

Towering over 200 centimeters (6'11"), Tomokazu is often stated to be an extremely imposing figure. Which is usually enhanced by his rather aggressive and delinquent like expressions, which sometimes gets him into fights or troubles. He has short dyed hair that is styled upwards on the top but has the lower half shaved. He also has a rather athletic build and strong looking legs.

## Personality

In contrast to his delinquent-like appearance, Tomokazu is actually a really quiet and gentle person. Often at school, he helps with the cleaning even though he is not assigned to it, and at home he also helps with the domestic chores as much as he can, something that most say is quite a contrast for his figure. Due to the misunderstandings due to his looks, as well as how he grew up, he tends to look down on himself. Despite this, Tomokazu is rather calm in most situations and is responsible, smart and has great grades, even when compared to Keiichiro. While initially seen as intimidating by most others, he makes more friends than he actually fights.

During his first year in High school, he is shown to be extremely weak-willed and at one point contemplated leaving the team just because he couldn't get his act together. However, as time goes on and he eventually reaches his third year, he has matured both as a player and as a person to the point that he now has gained a new form of self-confidence. He acknowledge himself as a proper player in the **Golden Generation** (Japanese: **黄金世代**, *Kogane Sedai*) and even calls himself the **Second Ace** (Japanese: **二番目のエース**, *Nibanme no Eisu*).

Tomokazu is said to also have a "Glass Heart", taking everything that is said about him to heart, and becoming comedically depressed because of it at times. While he still feels insecure about a lot of things and seems to be quite a scaredy-cat, he clearly states that he has no intention of letting anyone take beat him in volleyball .

## Statistics

 Stamina
 Game Sense
 Technique
 Speed

Due to his height, Tomokazu is the most well-known player in the team. Dubbed as the **Two Meter Giant** (Japanese: **二メートルの巨人**, **Ni Mētoru no Kyojin**), he was often confused as the ace as the team to first timers and is more often than not regarded as the second ace of Kiyose Higashi Academy. His greatest attribute is his height, which fuels his overall playstyle. It is nothing but a simple yet extremely powerful asset that puts him leagues above average players. He also has a decently strong jumping power thanks to his leg workouts, increasing his already high ball contact point, and allowing him to spike directly above blocks in pretty much any situation. This was actually his most defining attribute even while playing in the Division 1 Leagues, since aside from his impressive height he also has enough leg strength to jump really high.

His greatest weakness early on in his career as a volleyball player is mainly his own lack of confidence on himself. For most of his early Volleyball plays, he rarely ever shows any confidence in his own strength and assumes that he is messing up most of the time, when in reality it is actually something that either couldn't be helped or just a couple of mistakes that every makes once in a while, forgetting that he is not a perfect player and will make mistakes once in a while. However, this mentality was later fixed, or some would say upgraded. His desire to not make that many mistakes makes him a lot more efficient in his plays, especially during in his third year in high school when he displays the ability to produce reliable results during both practice and in actual matches.

**Jumping Reach:** 360cm

### **Skills**

 Setting
 Spike
 Technique
 Block

* **Defensive Specialist:** Although not as good as the Libero Akifumi, he is one of the three defensive pillars of the team alongside Yukitaka and has such solid receives that he is often tasked with some of the most difficult receives in games. He has displayed proficiency in both underhanded and overhanded receives and seems to be an phenomenal enough receiver that should he choose to be a Libero, he'd no doubt be a star player. His proficient receives allows him to save the powerful spike serves as well as the tricky jump floaters. The only thing that holds him back as a receiver is that he is a lot slower compared to the top two receivers in the team, Yukitaka and Akifumi. It is because of this, he has a smaller defensive range compared to them. However, so long as the ball reaches his range, then he can receive most balls.
* **Height Advantage:** In terms of overall skills and capabilities, he is actually the team's most normal and conventional player. He spikes, serves and blocks like an average veteran player. Except all of his plays are improved upon by his extraordinary height, and it always gives him an edge over smaller players. As mentioned earlier, his spiking point is extremely high, that also applies to his serves. As smaller players like Keiichiro have to follow through the ball and aim straight forward for the ball to go over the net, whilst Tomokazu's high contact point allows him to aim slightly more downwards and add a lot more power. His blocks are also enhanced by his height, not to mention since he is tall even if he is faked by a decoy, he can land faster and jump again for a second block before the true spiker hits. It is this height advantage that gives him an edge against many players.

## Relationships

### **Golden Generation**

Having been born not loved by his biological parents and was sent to the orphanage by the age of 8, while also being bullied to the ground by several of his peers in the orphanage, he has never had the chance to actually form a proper relationship, which is why he can be seen as weak-willed and slightly stand off-ish. However, through their love of volleyball, he was able to form a connection and became friends with the rest of the Golden Generation. It also helps that they collectively helped him get a new family where he will actually feel love for the first time. All in all, he is extremely good friends with them and wouldn't trade anything for it.

## Trivia

* **Favorite Food:** Mochi
* **Current Concern:** His miniature garden being destroyed by his step-younger siblings.
* **Star Sign:** Scorpio
* **Hobby:** Gardening