Shigeru Murota

Murota is suspicious, opportunistic and initially interested in using his newly acquired psychic power for personal advantage. He sees mind-reading as a way to anticipate punches and gain an enormous advantage as a boxer.

His ability also makes ordinary social interaction unpleasant. Constant exposure to people's private thoughts reinforces his distrust of others and gives him an unusually cynical perspective.

Despite his rough introduction, Murota cooperates with Yusuke once he understands the scale of the danger facing Mushiyori City. His ability becomes more useful for investigation than for the sporting advantage he originally imagined.

Murota's psychic ability is called Tapping. Within an effective radius of roughly thirty yards in the manga, he can hear the thoughts of people around him as though they were voices.

He cannot simply isolate one mind at will, meaning crowds produce a confusing mixture of mental noise. Strong emotions make thoughts effectively "louder," however, allowing particularly intense intentions to stand out.

Murota intends to combine Tapping with boxing by hearing an opponent's intended attacks before they move. Against a fighter as fast as Yusuke, however, knowing an attack is coming does not guarantee that he can physically avoid it.

Murota appears during Yusuke's investigation of the supernatural changes affecting Mushiyori City. After gaining Tapping, he plans to exploit the power as a boxer.

Yusuke confronts him and demonstrates the limitations of that strategy by attacking faster than Murota can react, even though Murota knows what Yusuke intends to do.

Murota subsequently helps the group search for the person behind the opening tunnel to Demon World. His ability becomes particularly useful in a crowd, where an unusually intense thought can identify someone attempting to remain anonymous.

Murota identifies Sensui after hearing his thoughts, but Kaname Hagiri shoots and seriously wounds him. He is taken to the hospital and later becomes infected by one of Doctor's virus insects. The manga subsequently reveals that Gourmet consumed Murota, allowing Gourmet to acquire his psychic ability.

Yusuke Urameshi initially confronts Murota over his plans to exploit Tapping but soon makes use of his psychic ability during the investigation.

Kurama works with Yusuke during the search in which Murota becomes temporarily involved.

Hiei is also present during the broader investigation into the emerging threat from Sensui's group.

Shinobu Sensui is identified when Murota detects his unusually intense thoughts in a crowd.

Kaname Hagiri shoots Murota shortly after Sensui is identified.

Minoru Kamiya is responsible for the virus insects that later infect Murota while he is hospitalized.

Gourmet eventually consumes Murota and acquires his Tapping ability.