Katashiro

Katashiro (カタシロ) is the mediator of Akihabara.

Appearance
Katashiro is a slender man who dresses casually, wearing a loose checkered black shirt, loose trousers bunched up at their cuffs, and sandals in addition to a right ankle bracelet and a necklace. Over these he wears a long white robe that reaches his mid-thighs; its black-lined sleeves end just above his elbows, allowing the checkered cuffs of his shirt to be seen. The bottom of the left trouser sleeve sports a spiral design that resembles an ocean wave as well as blossom prints.

To conceal his head, he keeps the robe's hood up at all times and wears a snarling mask. Covering the mask is a long white cloth with black-and-red markings and the kanji【遊戯（·）昧】. the cloth is draped over the hood and extends down Katashiro's back.

Personality
Katashiro is constantly lost in his own thoughts, which are casually worded and peppered with youthful slang that contrasts others' perception of him as a man of intimidating poise. Between his entertainment-based hobbies and his mediator duties (or other 'real life' affairs), he treats the former with far more care and importance than the latter, which he distances himself from; the other mediators and their entourages are, in his mind, "like, totes s-p-o-o-k-y." Similarly, Katashiro objects to being compared with Lemmings due to the pressure the comparison puts on him. Katashiro's nerves around the other mediators and lack of knowledge about local affairs feed Katashiro's concerns about "looking cool" in front of the peer group. Caring about appearances makes Katashiro sympathetic to people put in embarrassing situations.

Katashiro's perpetually-concealed face, situational reticence, and short, ambiguous statements lend Katashiro a mysterious air that leaves much to the imagination of others. His colleagues respect him, his and their underlings assume the best of him, and his cautious acquaintances beware him; because they all presume Katashiro is exceptionally competent, they interpret his ambiguous statements according to their preconceived presumptions.

Although these interpretations are sometimes wrong, they are always to Katashiro's benefit. Reticence and ambiguity, when not strategies Katashiro uses to disguise his ignorance are—like said ignorance—natural consequences of Katashiro failing to pay attention to the world around him.

Chronology
As a mediator of Akihabara, Katashiro is in occasional contact with fellow mediators including: Lisa Kuraki (Shinjuku), Gioacchino Soldati (Ikebukuro), Rushia "Andalucía" Andou (Roppongi), and Kuon Higuro (Shibuya).

Presumably prior to Corpse God's reincarnation, Katashiro works closely enough with The Grocer, whose shop he knows as Amagase, to consider him his right-hand man and one of his people. The Grocer is eventually incarcerated. Whether Katashiro and Grocer's period without mutual contact is related is unclear.

Roughly a month before Katashiro and Grocer reestablish contact, online content creator Great General Eaves uploads a video offering a reward for information on his friend, a fellow content creator, who went missing while exploring an abandoned site. The exploration of abandoned sites gains rapid popularity among the youth and content creator community under the name "Corpse Hunt" challenges, though numerous people, including Akihabara livestreamers, go missing while exploring over the following month.

Although Katashiro remains personally oblivious to these challenges, he and his people begin receiving requests from clients to find various missing persons.

Shibuya's Successor
When Higuro disappears without notice, Katashiro and his fellow mediators are summoned to interview the replacement Shibuya candidate: Yumeji Agakura. Katashiro is one of the first to arrive at the conference building but lacks the entourage or bodyguards of Andalucía or Lisa, Roppongi's and Shinjuku's respective mediators, which he regrets once he sees that everyone else is armed. He keeps quiet and busies himself with his oolong tea while the women discuss Lisa's reversal on Polka Shinoyama's life. Neither they nor their entourages notice him, nor Gioacchino and his entourage when they file into the meeting room; only once Katashiro speaks on Polka's bounty does everyone realize he is present and ten assume he just arrived.

Katashiro fades back into the background for the remainder of the three mediators' conversation, remaining silent even when Andalucía murders her own underling. He is only paying rote attention by the time Yumeji arrives and is asked to explain the Agakura Clan's involvement in Higuro's disappearance and in kidnapping Lisa's man on Higuro's behalf—so, when he draws everyone's attention upon laughing at an intrusive memory of 'Higuro' featuring in Solitaire's deepfake video, he is confused by Yumeji's stiff demeanor. More out of sympathy for Higuro than for Yumeji, Katashiro speaks up in the latter's favor by declaring that he believes the Agakuras are not responsible for Higuro's disappearance.

Solitaire is brought up later when Yumeji's sister-bodyguard Kana informs her brother that Lisa's bodyguard Misaki Sakimiya—who injured their other brother—is, in addition to having Majiri Agakura's favor, an alleged pupil of Solitaire. Impressed, Katashiro lapses into wondering where he has seen Misaki before and misses Lisa's subsequent hint about the Agakura's connection to a Shinoyama guard, though Andalucía and Gioacchino are not as oblivious.

The meeting concludes with Yumeji's formal acknowledgement as Higuro's successor, though Gioacchino, Katashiro, and Yumeji linger while Andalucía attempts to spite Lisa by invoking Miyabi Hosorogi's name. Katashiro calls Andalucía out on and warns her against such obvious provocation, reminding her that this conference was intended to be a peaceful one. Although Andalucía cannot resist a last few barbs at the expense of Lisa's humanity, she desists before any tensions can be enflamed anew.

Katashiro passes Momoya Agakura and two Youtokorou patrollers as he exits the building and makes his way toward an alley, overhearing as he does the former whisper to the latter about rumors of Katashiro being on par with Lemmings. The comparison bothers Katashiro so much that he dwells on it even when several men ambush him in the alleyway's depths; in the same minutes he is dispatching the men with brutal ease, he frets to himself about how frightening the other mediators are. His appetite whetted, he asks a covertly watching Gioacchino—who arranged the ambush—if his restaurant is still open. Gioacchino replies that it is fully booked. Katashiro advises that Gioacchino clean up the corpses before he continues on his way, hopeful that he can still grab a bite to eat at one of Akihabara's ninja cafes.

Corpse Hunt Challenge
The next day finds Katashiro peering at an assortment of keychains displayed in a storefront window near Akihabara Station's Atre 1 exit. The keychains feature illustrations that he recognizes as fanart from a website. His entourage attributes his pensiveness to the requests they have received about finding the 'corpse hunters' who have gone missing; however, this is the first Katashiro has heard of "'corpse hunts' [being] a thing." Much more horrifying, however, is the prospect of the "national-level evil" that is 'fake merchandise passed off as official merchandise' becoming a thing in Akihabara. Katashiro instructs his entourage to put him in contact with Amagase.

Upon acquiring a tiny walkie talkie, Katashiro retires to a rooftop for privacy, remarks to Amagase that they have not spoken in a long while, and heavily insinuates that Grocer should know why he is calling. Grocer, who states that Amagase is no longer his shop's name, advises that Katashiro must act tonight if he wants to get ahead of the police, Shinjuku, and Shibuya's joint effort to tackle the corpse hunts.

Katashiro droops, for the corpse hunts were not at all why he was calling—so, in the name of rewarding customer loyalty, Grocer generously promises to locate the fake merchandise sellers gratis.

The call ends. Filled with utter gratitude for his "former comrade" and "bosom buddy," Katashiro somersaults with glee in front of his onlooking entourage. He proposes that they accompany him to one of the abandoned sites.

Later that day, Katashiro takes the metro to the outskirts of Shibuya and walks from the station to Arataya General Hospital, where two Akihabara livestreamers disappeared while filming a video for their YouTube channel Zukuzuku-Bonbon. Once the hospital is in site, he hesitates, recalling the other mediators' frowning upon meddling in each other's territory during last night's meddling. Meddling here despite the no-meddling policy would surely arouse the Shibuya mediator's suspicions, Katashiro deduces (paraphrased), pleased with himself for such breathtaking insight.

Katashiro decides to proceed for the sake of the missing livestreamers despite knowing nothing about them. He is so busy thinking about the cosplay of a livestreamer whose content he does watch—Proppen—that he neglects to look before he leaps over the fence of the hospital's back courtyard, consequently landing in the midst of armed men. These men he remembers as belonging to Higuro's entourage so, in a quick-thinking bid not to antagonize them, he asks them to pass along a message to the new Agakura mediator. This antagonizes them immediately. A man raises his handgun, which Katashiro snatches and uses to shoot the thigh of his nearest comrade. "Typical Shibuya," he says. "Always have the newest toys."

Trivia

 * Katashiro suspects that he has seen Kana Agakura somewhere before.
 * Katashiro believes that it is 'hardcore' for someone to be apprenticed to Phantom Solitaire.
 * Rumors suggest that Katashiro is on par with Lemmings. Katashiro objects that he is nothing like a 'monster' who can shrug off bullets and says "equating [them is] only going to make [himself] feel the pressure, like, for real."
 * Katashiro claims to be familiar with horror game livestreamers like the Great General Eaves and the cosplayer Proppen, yet seems ignorant of the "corpse hunt trend" despite Eaves having kickstarted it with a viral video. It may simply be that Katashiro is only familiar with Eaves' channel in name, that he missed the video, or that he follows Eaves exclusively for his horror games livestreams and ignores his other content.