Kashimoto

Kashimoto is comparatively composed and analytical. Where Payase readily reacts to strange objects and revelations, Kashimoto is more inclined to gather information before acting.

He has a dry, practical manner and is capable of restraining his partner when Payase's emotions threaten to interfere with an investigation. This makes him particularly useful during interrogation, where learning what an opponent knows can matter more than immediately condemning them.

Like Payase, he is deeply familiar with occult phenomena. Dangerous curses do not produce the shock they would in an ordinary person; he approaches them as part of his profession.

Kashimoto is accompanied by an Ice Flame guardian spirit. Through it, he can wield supernatural fire that produces intense cold rather than ordinary heat.

His principal technique invokes Aphoom-Zhah, creating a Cold Flame capable of freezing targets. The ability is named after the entity Aphoom-Zhah associated with the expanded Cthulhu Mythos.

Kashimoto can use the Ice Flame in direct combat against other supernatural power users, and the guardian spirit dramatically increases his offensive reach beyond conventional martial arts.

He can combine his power with Payase's Darkness transformation. Their coordinated attack produces a powerful bird-like manifestation capable of overwhelming an opponent who had already proven difficult for either specialist to handle conventionally.

Kashimoto enters the story alongside Payase when Seiko consults the pair at a gyoza restaurant. Their profession gives Seiko access to knowledge about cursed artifacts outside her own immediate area of expertise.

The meeting becomes an ambush when supernatural power users attack Seiko. Kashimoto reveals his Ice Flame guardian spirit and fights beside Payase and Seiko, helping defeat the attackers.

Their interrogation uncovers information about the kozuka knives associated with the cursed sword Asura. The attackers have been recruited into a competition to collect yokai powers in exchange for a promised wish, linking the assault to the wider conspiracy affecting Momo's group.

Kashimoto and Payase take the information back to their wider network of occult specialists and begin investigating, giving Seiko another independent line of inquiry into the people distributing the knives.

Payase is Kashimoto's partner and fellow cursed-object collector. Kashimoto frequently provides the calmer judgment within their partnership, while their supernatural abilities work particularly well together.

Seiko Ayase is an established acquaintance who consults the pair because of their expertise with curses.

Momo Ayase is indirectly connected to Kashimoto's investigation through Seiko's efforts to solve Momo's supernatural predicament.

Masamichi Vega encounters Kashimoto, Payase, and Seiko following their battle and attempts to investigate the disturbance.