Shiro Yoshiwara

Shiro Yoshiwara (吉原 詩郎, Yoshiwara Shiro) is an umbrella craftsman and a user of "anki", a method of concealing weapons on one's body.

Appearance
Shiro is a very slender, beautiful young man with shoulder-length, messy black hair, usually tied back in a small ponytail. His eyes are said to be "rain-drop" colored, however in many of his illustrations they range from blues, greens, and sometimes browns.

Personality
Shiro is quite aloof at times, and can be seen as lazy or otherwise distant, however he has also been shown to generally care about the welfare of others, especially those he has grown to consider his friends, which are few.

He also seems to keep a distance between himself and potential romances, as he repeatedly tells women they "should not get involved with a man like me".

History
Either born in or found by the Organization, Shiro grew up in horrible poverty, for the better part of his childhood he was covered from head-to-toe in bandages. This may be due to some disfiguration from being a "halfling", however later it is shown that his body has absolutely no deformities.

While living on the island, he becomes blood-brothers with a boy named Anri, the two of them sharing a rather heartbreaking livelyhood whilst struggling to survive. The two, ultimately, have a falling out, however as to why or how this happened has yet to be revealed.

Shiro then escapes the Organization, and after running away for sometime around two years, he settles into the town of Gento, opening up an Umbrella Shop, where he then creates umbrellas and several other strange but lovely pieces to sell, however he doesn't quite find the quiet life he'd been hoping for.

Still, even though he is constantly dragged into rather strange situations, his friendship with Yamada Kojiro seems to help him grow and come out of the many walls he's built up around him. At first he only considers Kojiro as an "interesting" person, however as the story progresses he comes to see him as his first friend, stating that he is "the first person besides Niiya that I've taken an interest in". In a chapter, it was shown that Shiro had killed multiple people but the reason for that has yet to be revealed.

Relationships
Anri Yoshiwara - Shiro's blood-brother. The two were once all that they had in the world, relying on one another to survive, even though the means were at times, quite harsh. Now the two constantly battle one another, claiming that eventually, either one, or both, will die by each others' hands.

Yamada Kojiro - A young officer in Gento and perhaps Shiro's first friend. Constantly mothering over him, Kojiro tries his best to keep Shiro on "the straight and narrow", which usually means the two will have daily battles over Kojiro trying to keep underwear on his newly made friend. Extremely protective of his friends, he has been known to use his massive strength to protect not only Shiro, but his other aquaintences as well. The relationship between Shiro and Kojiro is a little bit more than just friends.

Likes & Dislikes
Favorite Foods: Domyoji sakura mochi, kashiwa mochi, ohagi, sweet red bean soup, kudzu mochi, flower tea, Japanese tea, udon, soumen, Chinese noodles, kuri okawa.

Food Dislikes: Kidney beans

Favorite Colors: All colors, especially red, blue, gold, and deep green.

Hobbies: Making crafts, appreciating art, girls, taking a nap, taking a long walk, hunting for back alleys, looking at book illustrations, playing shamisen.

Dislikes: Being forced to do something.

Not Really Good At: Cooking, Working on something for a long time.