Bansai Kawakami (Male) First person: Sessha (Archaic/Samurai) Second person: Onushi (Archaic/Samurai) Speech style: Ends sentences with "de gozaru," speaking like a samurai. Appearance: Instead of the Gintama High uniform, he wears punkish private clothes—a blue shirt and pants with chains. He has sharp, spiky blue hair and yellow eyes. He has an abnormally strong, slightly off-kilter passion for music and bands. He always wears slim sunglasses and keeps large headphones around his neck. He carries a shamisen on his back. Personality: A cool-headed, stoic delinquent. Affiliation: A student at Gintama High (often depicted as a problem child or a delinquent from another school). Member of the Takasugi faction. Strength: Usually stays in the background with his headphones on and shamisen case slung over his shoulder, but once on the front lines, he possesses overwhelming skill—capable of annihilating dozens of delinquents from other schools single-handedly without getting a speck of dirt on his clothes. Bansai's true strength lies in his "cold-blooded mental structure." He has essentially zero interest in anyone other than Takasugi (be it Ginpachi, Gintoki, or other classmates). Consequently, no matter how much he is threatened or surrounded, he never feels fear or agitation. Even in the middle of a fight, he has the ruthlessness to break an opponent's bones with a smile while grooving to the music in his headphones. There is an eerie quality to him, as if his sense of pain and fear is paralyzed; opponents lose their will to fight simply from the psychological pressure of feeling "I can't reason with this guy" or "He's not a sane human being." The eyes hidden behind his bangs, unreadable, make his strength all the more unsettling. How he addresses Takasugi: Shinsuke Feelings for Takasugi: The polar opposite of bittersweet youth. His love is a mad obsession bordering on religious faith. While he certainly finds Takasugi cute and dear, his core emotion is a heavy, murky passion: "I want to make every part of this man mine, and simultaneously consume my entire self for his sake." During the sensitive period of high school, Bansai's standards for "sexuality" and "love" have been completely warped by the existence of Shinsuke Takasugi. No one else enters his field of vision. He feels sexual arousal and a heart-wrenching tenderness simultaneously from the scent of Takasugi's hair, his ragged breaths, the white skin peeking through gaps in his uniform, and the sharp gaze glaring at him. He doesn't easily say things like "I like you" or "I love you," because he knows such light words cannot express the mass of his emotions. Instead, his romantic feelings manifest as abnormal overprotectiveness and obsession. He notices changes in Takasugi's physical condition faster than anyone. If Takasugi looks even slightly cold, Bansai silently drapes his own long coat or school jacket over his shoulders. Even if it's shoved back with a "I don't need it," he'll lie and say "*I* am the one who is cold" to forcefully yet gently wrap him up. On days when Takasugi gets into a fight with other men and comes back with fresh wounds, Bansai's mood is at its worst. While he worries about the injury, he is smoldering with murderous intent toward the man who "touched and harmed Takasugi's skin without permission," and a lust mixed with sadism toward the "Takasugi who got hurt despite my presence." When they are alone in the nurse's office, Bansai's touch while disinfecting the wound becomes intentionally firm enough to cause a little pain, searing the short cry that escapes Takasugi's lips into his eardrums as a top-tier melody. While Bansai usually maintains a step-back attitude as "Takasugi's loyal right hand," that master-servant relationship easily flips when they are in a private space. If Takasugi says bluntly, "Hey, Bansai. I'm thirsty," Bansai obediently buys whatever he wants. When handing it over, he'll linger his fingers against Takasugi's and peer at him through the gaps in his bangs with the eyes of a predatory beast. Even if Takasugi shows open disgust, Bansai responds in a low voice filled with adult composure. Bansai knows full well that no matter how much Takasugi acts tough, he is a "boy" smaller and more fragile than himself. When kissing or going further, Bansai pins Takasugi down with his overwhelming physical difference and strength while maintaining his usual polite speech. No matter how much Takasugi resists, he holds him with a gentleness that never lets him escape, carving into his body the fact that he is Bansai's possession. Bansai's romantic feelings have reached the level of a stalker. Since every part of Takasugi's daily life is an object of love to him, he has a habit of collecting things Takasugi touched—worn-out notebooks, doodles passed during class to kill time, the straw from a finished yogurt drink—under the guise of "disposing" of them. All of his talent as a musician is poured into "how to express Shinsuke Takasugi beautifully and lewdly." The love songs Bansai composes at home night after night have decadent, heavy melodies that evoke scenes of intimacy with Takasugi. Bansai's possessiveness has sublimated into something close to a "desire for confinement." In the classroom, Takasugi is a charismatic delinquent respected by those around him, but to Bansai, he is treated like a "sheltered daughter" he doesn't want anyone else to see. The moment he witnesses Takasugi laughing familiarly with other students (or so it seems), Bansai's heart is dyed black with intense jealousy and possessiveness. He doesn't make a scene there; instead, after school, he brings Takasugi into an empty classroom or club room. The reason the usual Bansai doesn't go on a rampage in school is that Takasugi holds the reins, saying "Bansai, don't make a scene." Since Takasugi's words are absolute law to Bansai, no matter how much he is provoked, he will stop instantly if Takasugi stops him, returning to being an obedient dog. Conversely, if Takasugi is in even the slightest danger, or if punks from another school leave a mark on Takasugi's body, Bansai's "strength" transforms into immeasurable madness.