Yuji Takehisa

Yuji Takehisa is one of the strongest delinquents in Hekikuu High School and best friend of Seiichiro Kitano. He considers himself the #2 strongest thug of the school and Seiichiro's "little brother" out of respect.

Appearance
Takehisa is among the shortest of the main characters and is the shortest boy in the school.

Because of his mixed heritage, he has naturally brown hair, and keeps it spiked up. He also normally has small eyebrows. During his suspension, he dyed his hair blonde and shaved off his eyebrows to embrace what others thought of him, making him stand out, second only to Kitano.

Personality
Like other delinquents, Takehisa loves fighting and especially enjoys fighting a strong opponent as a measure of strength. He won't fight anyone weaker than him unless he is provoked. He is tenacious and is very rarely defeated, earning him the nickname "the brawling kid" from his vicious fighting style. He is never content to stay as strong as he is and continues to perfect his style to get stronger.

Takehisa values his friendship with Kitano. While a part of him fears him, he mostly respects him and admires him and unquestionably follows his orders. Even after learning that Kitano was never a delinquent near the end of the story and that he misunderstood the whole time, he still views Kitano as his best friend and wants to protect him.

Abilities
Takehisa is a very skilled fighter and doesn't give up. Despite his small size, his attacks are heavy and can potentially even send his opponents flying. He generally fights using his punches and elbows.

Backstory
Prior to his introduction, Takehisa was considered feisty and a strong fighter from Kaisen Middle School. He originally had naturally brown hair, which everyone assumed was dyed, and he still had his eyebrows. After he struck a teacher, he dyed his hair blonde and shaved off his eyebrows during his suspension, revealing this upon his return.

Meeting Yuji Takahisa
As he walks through the school to find the Guardian, Seikichi Kuroda summarizes who he is to his friends and why he was suspended. He finally locates him just as Kuroda says he plans to take him down and challenges Kuroda on the spot. Kuroda agrees to take him out three-on-one, making the excuse it wasn't lunchtime yet when Ooshita reminded him he said it would be one-on-one. Takehisa calls him out saying Kuroda never intended it to be one-on-one, taunting all three. Kuroda ignores Ooshita's claim of his taking Takehisa on one-on-one and tells them to gang up on him. They all three attack him, but are defeated brutally, unaware how strong he was. Takehisa then taunts Kuroda saying that by defeating the Guardian, he's now the new Guardian, but Kuroda reveals he wasn't the Guardian anymore and that Seiichiro Kitano is. Takehisa doesn't believe him, but Kuroda continues saying he terrorized the school in one day. Takehisa is surprised by this and Kuroda taunts him saying Takehisa will never measure up to Kitano. Takehisa demands to know where he is, but Kuroda refuses to cooperate, and he he decides to take down Kitano to be the new Guardian.

Just missing Kitano, Takehisa enters the classroom and is instantly recognized by the class as one of their classmates and notices he bleached his hair. He unknowingly sits in Kitano's seat to the shock of the class, though he mistakes it as them being afraid of him because of his reputation and appearance. A student approached him, to Takehisa's curiosity, and told him he needed to move since it wasn't his seat. Takehisa got up and angrily asked him if he was telling him what to do. The student denies saying it was for Takehisa's safety, afraid he'll get hurt. Takehisa took that as a threat and was about to attack him until the student explained that the seat belonged to Kitano. Takehisa was stunned to realize they are part of the same class. He then grew angrier when he realized that the students are more afraid of Kitano than him and that they were being sympathetic instead of afraid. He yells at them in defiance and sits back down in Kitano's seat, grinning he has no shortage of enemies. The class quickly returns to their seats in fear and he is impressed that Kitano has them so well trained. He looks over to see what he looks like and is shocked, thinking he is on drugs. He mistakes Kitano's silent staring as a challenge and glares back but eventually gives up and walks out of the classroom.

Outside, Takehisa strikes a tree in the nearby forest, angry he lost the staring match. Kuroda and his friends meet up with Takehisa, telling him everyone knows about his confrontation with Kitano and that he's going to kill Takehisa. Takehisa argues that all he did was stare him down and Takehisa was the one who broke it off, but Kuroda responds that Kitano doesn't know that, adding that Kitano even tried to kill him and he didn't look into his eyes. He walks back off telling Takehisa he hopes Kitano doesn't find him.

In the school building, Takehisa thinks about what Kuroda said and decides to try not to pick a fight with Kitano, unsure what to do next. When he rounds the corner, he accidentally bumps into Kitano. In a panic, Takehisa pulls out his switchblade knife, threatening to cut him with it. Kitano doesn't hear him and only notices that Takehisa's pose places the knife's blade near his wrist, causing him to tear up (thinking Yuji is trying to commit suicide for his earlier staring and hurt his feelings that badly). Kitano rushes Takehisa, screaming incoherently to stop and tries to get the knife away from him, but misses. Takehisa is surprised by this, wondering if Kitano is not afraid of his knife. Takehisa quickly recovers and says he followed through on his threat, hoping that will get him to leave, as the onlookers scream in fear at the scene. Unknowingly moving his knife away from his wrist, he is then paralyzed with fear after seeing Kitano's bloody face in his frozen smile, unable to react properly when Kitano slams the knife into the wall above him. Kitano then tells him not to throw his life away so easily, not realizing he thought Takehisa was trying to commit suicide. Takehisa finally accepts he can't hope to stand up to him. He bows down, apologizing, saying he understands the power difference between them and promises not to disobey him ever again, to Kitano's confusion. From that point forward, Takehisa became Kitano's first friend and acts as his enforcer and loyal follower, but the class is now more distanced from Kitano as a result.

Takeshi Kojima Arc
Three Hakuun High delinquents snuck into Hekikuu High wielding bokken to attack Kitano as a means to save their's school's reputation and in fear of facing their Guardian's, Takeshi Kojima's, wrath. He sees they are neither Hekikuu High students and wielding weapons, challenging them to a fight. They taunt him for a bit about his hair color before asking where Kitano is. Takehisa responds by quickly punching the closest delinquent, introduces himself calling himself Kitano's "little brother," and prepares to fight them for looking for him. One of the delinquents recognizes Takehisa from his Kaisen Middle School reputation. Takehisa is happy to be recognized and gets ready to fight the other two, only to be knocked out from behind from the first delinquent in a surprise attack. The delinquents quickly run away in a panic after. Takehisa eventually come around in the infirmary and listens, with confusion, to Kitano explaining the wonders of life.

The next day, Takehisa, with his head still bandaged, goes to Kuroda's hangout to try to find Kitano, wanting to update him on his encounter with Hakuun's thugs. As he curses them and promises revenge, he comes across Kuroda and his friends, smiling and correctly guessing he was looking for Kitano. Takehisa taunts Kuroda's smile asking if he "[got] some?" Instead, Kuroda smugly tells him he needs to change his foul-mouthed attitude for the sake of his future. Takehisa counters angrily asking if Kuroda's brain melted and dripped out his nose. Kuroda laughs it off saying he has room in his heart not to get mad at anything he says. He then says his fight with Takehisa is a memory and he's nothing but a man of the past now. Takehisa gets angrier and demands if Kuroda is asking for a fight. Kuroda warns him to stop or he'll regret Kuroda getting serious. At first Takehisa is confused. Kuroda slyly asks about Takehisa's bandages and informs him he knew he was defeated by Hakuun's delinquents. As Takehisa argues, Kuroda explains there's no need to report to Kitano about Hakuun since he and the others defeated them, shocking Takehisa. Kuroda explains they went and got revenge for Takehisa since he couldn't beat them and Takehisa won't be able to win since the delinquents woke up "a sleeping lion." As he and the others muse and admire that name, Takehisa punches Kuroda,to Gorou and Jirou's shock and anger. Kuroda tries to taunt Takehisa again about getting serious, but is interrupted by another punch. Kuroda tries to taunt Takehisa again, but is interrupted by a punch to the face. Kuroda nervously warns Takehisa again about the sleeping lion, but Takehisa defiantly tells Kuroda to wake it up, beating up Kuroda and the others and leaves.

The following day, his head still bandaged, Takehisa overhears Kuroda talking about how Kitano went into Hakuun and took out their #2, Hayami, to settle the score for their sake. He tells them they are getting the wrong idea and that Kitano didn't go to Hakuun for them. Takehisa rhetorically asks why Kitano went after their #2 and Kuroda guesses (correctly, unknown to him) that it was because Hayami was the first guy Kitano ran across. Takehisa answers that because he, the little brother, was worked over, Kitano defeated their #2 to balance things out. Kuroda is at first confused until Ooshita explains that because their #2 was defeated, Kitano defeated Hakuun's #2 in response and that Takehisa was claiming to be #2. Kuroda is eventually outraged claiming he was the real #2, defiantly saying they being defeated doesn't mean a thing and Takehisa can't push them around. Takehisa looks down on them accepting his challenge. Kuroda and the others huddle up and discuss their new attack, Triangle Formation Alpha. Takehisa impatiently asks if they intend to fight or not. Just as Kuroda gets ready to fight, he notices Kojima behind him. Takehisa looks behind him and asks Kojima, not knowing who he is, if he's from Hakuun. When Kuroda, panicking, tells Takehisa he has something important to do, Takehisa tries to argue they're not done yet, but Kuroda repeatedly tells Takehisa he is indeed the #2, running away and telling the others to do the same, to Takehisa's confusion. Kojima tells Takehisa he has no business with the #2, demanding to know where the boss is. Takehisa deduces from his tough attitude that he's the boss of Hakuun.

Takehisa states that he doesn't know what Kojima wants with Kitano, but he won't let him see Kitano that easily. Kojima rebuffs saying he doesn't like fighting a cripple. Takehisa quickly figures out he meant his head bandage. He apologizes, saying he forgot about it and that he had a head wound which he found shameful. He assures he had no intention of using it as a handicap and takes it off. He then quickly tosses it at Kojima's face as a distraction and fires a punch, but Kojima still dodges, causing him to stumble forward. Takehisa remarks he's pretty good for not falling for that trick. Kojima asks if he'll see the boss if he beats Takehisa. Takehisa answers vaguely, taunting he'll definitely never see him if he doesn't beat him. Kojima accepts that and attacks quickly. Takehisa barely dodges, getting grazed in the face. Takehisa counters with a kick, but Kojima easily dodges to behind Takehisa and punches Takehisa hard in the face. Takehisa launches a flurry of punches but Kojima is able to dodge them all, to Takehisa's frustration. Kojima finally throws a cross-counter punch, knocking Takehisa out. Kojima then continuously kicks Takehisa's unconscious body in a fury.

Seiichiro Kitano
At first, Takehisa feared Kitano and viewed him as an enemy. After their initial encounter, he grew to respect and admire Kitano for his power and leadership. Eventually, he grew to see Kitano as his best friend and is willing to do anything to protect him.

Seikichi Kuroda
Takehisa finds Kuroda annoying and looks down on him as weaker. He has never once lost a fight to Kuroda and is one of the few characters to comically beat him up when Kuroda gets too cocky or is in hysterics.

QUOTES

 * "If you're here to attack Kitano-san, then I, Takehisa Yuji, his "younger brother", will definitely have to fight you."