Name: Shinjiro Karasawa (唐沢 進次郎, but he's more partial to the Western Order)
Nickname/Alias: Kara-han
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Appearance: Closing in on 5'9", and in good shape, Karasawa's appearance is generally dominated by his strangely unfitting purple hair and eyes. When not in school uniform, he tends to dress very casually, favoring simple shirts of solid colors, jeans, and white sneakers, all made out of special materials which are resistant to autoignition. Has a bit of a resting glare and frown, perhaps brought upon by his volatile temperament and tendency to be doing those things when hounding petty criminals.
Biography: A large part of his rough and straightforward nature can likely be traced back to his place of birth, none other than New York, New York. For the first five years of his life, while his father worked a high-end position at a tech company out of the Big Apple, Shinjiro was a rough and tumble son of the closest thing America had to Tokyo, A first-generation Japanese-American in a nice, but still tough neighborhood. Standing out a bit with his asiatic heritage and small smatterings of Japanese mixed into his English (Thanks, mom), Shinjiro quickly found himself at the center of scraps that erupted from bullying. And he found that he took to them like a fish to water. Soon garnering a reputation as not one to be trifled with, up til first grade Shinjiro found himself making fast friends.
Then Dad had to move back home, and little Shinjiro was tossed into Tokyo, and the process started anew. Now brash and headstrong, he quickly made a name for himself by habitually standing up to any sort of bullying or injustice he'd seen, eschewing the guiding principle of "mind your own business" for "that shit ain't right, quit bustin' my balls". Soon enough, just as many tried to make a name for
themselves off of
him (especially after hearing he'd taken up karate to boot) as found themselves defending their egos against his casual lack of taking shit from anyone he disliked.
One tumultuous year later, and our boy'd found himself living in Academy City, having shown great potential as a dormant esper. Living on his own for real for the first time, he admittedly found himself lost in the freedom of it all. These days he is enrolled at the unremarkable Noriaki North High School, where through some inscrutable ploy by his peers (or perhaps the president himself), he has been elected as the Student Council Secretary entirely without his permission or understanding until it was too late.
Personality: Karasawa is a man of classic New York brashness, unafraid to speak his thoughts and dig his heels in on any ideas he has. He's rough around the edges at his most polite, and at worst he's a steaming tower of unwavering self-confidence and bluntness that border upon braggadocio and aggression. Those incurring the young grape-flavored punk's ire are always sure to know about it, and his hotblooded nature is quite prone to getting the better of his good sense. These are all integral parts of who young Shinjiro is at his core, and just as integral are his loyalty, his sense of right and wrong, and even his same bullheaded stubborn nature— it's just as easily applied to helping out people in need. He is simple and straightforward, and cuts right to the heart of the matters he deals with, be it friendship, a fight, and what's right and wrong. What's the holdup about complicating these simple-ass things?
He's walkin' here.
Esper Power: Burning Blood: Level 3. Whereas most espers externally control the elements, Shinjiro's power comes from within in the form of Burning Blood! Able to naturally control his body temperature by exciting his bloodstream, he uses 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit as a standard, everyday operating setting, but is capable of overclocking it from there! This produces the effect of raising his body temperature to heights of 1000 degrees, hot enough to weaken steel beams on contact! Additionally, he is effectively immune to a wide range of dangerous temperatures due to his body's natural resilience against his own power, making him a pinch hitter in the dead of winter or a housefire!
Skills: Karate, English, Moving through a crowded city and crowded city life quickly, secretarial work, cleanliness (fire hazards are never a thing in his home or the student council room), Sylvester Stallone impressions, being a free space heater in the winter, not dying of heatstroke in the summer, strong swimmer, getting into trouble, chasing trouble through school grounds, making enemies, never once fearing enemies, and studying in groups. Only groups.
Ambition: At this point, Shinjiro Karasawa is still something of a wayward young man. Grand life plans?
Fuhgeddaboutit, he can barely handle keeping track of the zaniness of simply living in Academy City along with his own grades half the time. Be it an upcoming math exam, one of his friends' schemes, or a night spent ducking Judgement because of an ill-advised brawl or chase scene, he is eternally concerned with just here and now. He knows for certain that he's gotta make it through school unscathed and he's gotta keep his school's turf safe for others, so if something nasty comes a 'knockin, he'll knock it the fuck out. But past that? Not much beyond seeing his buds succeed.
Extra: The Noriaki North High school student council is, for a such a mundane school, surprisingly well-kept and competently run. As such, Karasawa's rough demeanor and flinty gaze amusingly clashes with the group's combined capability as gracious hosts, respect for inter-school decorum, and staunch discipline when dealing with official matters. Even though he may not understand half of why they do what they do, he doubtlessly understands that him making a fight over it gets in the way of them getting things done. One might surmise a large part of this as due to his strange yet tight friendship with his smug
ikemen President, who would seem almost his complete opposite.
He also owns a halberd, won as a prize at some Renaissance Fair he attended during vacation, but never really uses it because blades would make his delinquent justice way too messy. Looks cool as hell, though.