Keiji Higashino

**Keiji Higashino** (**東野圭司**, *Higashino Keiji*) was a head detective and a supporting antagonist hailing from Tokyo who was demoted to Saga Prefecture after failing to track down one of his runaway cases.

He was introduced in Chapter 7 of the spin-off manga, Zombie Land Saga Gaiden: The First Zombie.

## Appearance

Keiji appears to be middle-aged and of a slim build, with an unkempt appearance. His hair is short and somewhat disorganized. He wears a detective outfit made up of Lycra pants and black loafers. His jacket and shirt are disorganized, in addition to not wearing a tie.

## Personality

He was a detective with malice inside. When he caught Anna stealing, he used her and her thieving skills to ambush future robberies that would take place in Tokyo. Everything was going well until a big incident that resulted in Anna escaping. His inability to track down and capture Anna after the Tokyo incident caused him to be demoted until he finally ended up in the middle of nowhere, in Saga. When he finally meets Anna again years later, he asks her for some answers and what she's doing with her life today, since she's still a fugitive. He seems unafraid of getting his hands dirty to serve “his justice” by brutally beating Eikichi when he gets in his way and insulting the Busters' work, belittling them for all they've done.

Although his first encounter with Sagako ends up scaring him, he showed that he was not afraid to follow one and shoot him 5 times with his gun until he finally died. Knowing the potential that these creatures could bring to the human world, he quickly realizes that Sagakos appear in areas with very high prosperity, and therefore hunts them down. Unlike the Busters, whose goal is to purify them, Higashino seeks to use his abilities to sell them in the human industry.

He shows curiosity about the supernatural events in Saga, first calling them “unknown fauna”. Given the amount of supernatural things that happen around him, he realizes that he is dealing with unknown entities, and he will seek to know the truth behind these beings. Higashino makes a deal with Magatsuhi, a deal with which he will have to eliminate all of Saga's Sagakos so that Magatsuhi can recover her power and fulfill his wish. This shows the more selfish side of him by being driven by his own desires.

When Magatsuhi shows disinterest in fulfilling his promise, he becomes angry with the curse and threatens her, desperately asking for his wish for power. Before firing his gun at Magatsuhi, he is brutally killed by being impaled on one of Magatsuhi's limbs.

## Abilities

### Skillset

* **Use of firearms**—Having police training, he knows how to use firearms, with which he can easily defend himself and attack.

### Natural Abilities

* **Investigation**—Born from his profession as a police detective, Higashino, when showing curiosity about something, lets it get the best of him and will not rest until he knows the truth behind his concern.

## Etymology

* Detective in Japanese kanji and in word is entirely different. The difference is that the word (**刑事**, Keiji) refers to a detective who belongs to the police. While the word (**探偵**, Tantei) is a detective who does not belong to the police, but before called as a private detective or private investigator.

## Trivia

* He was assassinated by the same Sagako, responsible for the death of Tae Yamada's parents.
* His flashbacks before he died show that he suffered a lot of bullying from his classmates, who treated him as weird and weak, which led to Higashino resenting his classmates and wanting to eliminate those who got in his way.
* Higashino's idea of using the Sagako in the industry could have many negative repercussions. Not only would it be altering the curse, but by killing a Sagako without purifying it, it only makes them more powerful.
	+ His conversation with Magatsuhi about removing all of Saga's curses for a “reward” points out that while he has a good intention to remove Sagako, he does so based on his own ego.