Shinya Hīragi

Shin'ya Hīragi (柊 深夜 Hīragi Shin'ya) is a supporting character of Owari no Seraph. He is a Major General of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army.

Appearance
Shin'ya has blue eyes and short silver hair with bangs.

Personality
Shin'ya is shown to be a very calm and somewhat gentle person, especially compared to other members of the Hīragi family. He warns Yu to not take what Kureto says at face value and dislikes picking on the weak. He has been friends with Guren since their school days.

History
Shin'ya was adopted by the Hīragi Family. At a young age, he had been selected, alongside several talented children, to be the potential mate for Mahiru. This was a plan by the Hiragi to keep their bloodline strong. His childhood days were filled with training and fighting. Failure to distinguish himself among others meant death. Finally, he was singled out from the other candidates and was adopted into the family and engaged to Mahiru, with the rest of the candidates killed.

It was uncertain whether he bore any true affection towards Mahiru, though he was somewhat jealous of Guren. Despite that, he was depicted to be a true friend towards Guren. He initially initiated a collaborative effort with Guren to crush the Hiragis with him acting as a double agent. Due to the series of events with greater things at stake, that did not come to pass. Over time, he grew to respect and admire Guren and accepted the Kiju (Demon-Curse) from Kureto to save Guren.

LN
???

Manga
Shin'ya is first seen during a meeting among the top-ranked members of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. He contributes little to the conversation apart from trying to smooth things over between Guren and the other generals.

He arrives with Lieutenant General Kureto Hiragi and the Shibuya Main Army as reinforcements in the battle at Shinjuku in chapter 14. Shin'ya is the first to appear, sniping at Ferid. Unfortunately, Ferid notices his presence. Alarmed, he dodges, but he sustains a minor injury to his left shoulder.

Shin'ya reappears with Kureto at the end of chapter 16 for Special Private Yuichiro Hyakuya's "interview." In the next chapter, Shin'ya warns Yu not to trust Kureto right before Kureto cheats in their fight and beats Yu handily. Kureto orders Shin'ya to attack Yu. After hesitating, he defeats Yu easily and claims that this should prove they do not know each other. He reveals that he's under investigation from the Army due to suspicions that he may be a spy. Yu's interview continues, and Kureto surprises Shin'ya by asking Yu about the Hyakuya Sect.

In chapter 24, Shin'ya drives to the Ebina Rest Stop to join up with the Moon Demon Company without invitation. He does this in a super-charged luxury sports car he happened to find along the way. Since it was too loud and attracted Horsemen, he had to stick sound-muffling illusion wards on it. When Guren asks him what he is doing there, Shin'ya asks Guren if he realizes this is a suicide mission. He says he decided to help him anyway.

Then, he and Colonel Norito Goshi mock Guren for giving a short speech on a sports car. He is with Guren's squad at the rest stop when Yuichiro comes to receive his punishment. Once again, he and Goshi tease Guren about his calling them family. Each time, Goshi is the only one punished. They talk about their past a little. Yu says that if he and Shin'ya fought now, Yu is sure he would win. Shin'ya responds by calling him adorable.

Guren decides to test Sergeant Shinoa Hiragi and her squad with a match: her entire squad against Guren, Shin'ya, and Colonel Mito Jujo. Shin'ya varifies that he and Mito just got thrown into a fight against three bearers of the Black Demon Series, which alarms Mito. Shin'ya starts off the match by firing Byakkomaru with manifestation coming at the kids from behind, effectively distracting Special Privates Yoichi and Kimizuki and making them guard their rear. Then, Guren clashes with Yu, eventually sticking an explosion ward on Yu's forehead. As predictable as ever, Yu runs at Guren. Guren joking steps aside, where Shin'ya is waiting with his rifle and begins firing a barrage of bullets at Yu. Yu manages to block them, but Guren breaches the kids' lines and hands them their defeat.

In Nagoya, Guren leaves Shin'ya above ground to take over command if something happens to him. Shin'ya pairs up with Special Private Yoichi and works with the Shinoa and Narumi squads to kill Fifteenth Progenitor Lucal Wesker. Shin'ya coaches Yoichi on sniping, getting him to calm down and relax. He tells Yoichi the details of a sniper's job, including that they must kill any allies who fail to escape in the case of a retreat. When they fire at Lucal, Lucal grabs his aide Esther and throws him in front of their bullets. Esther dies, and Lucal attacks them from the ground, whacking the tower and making them cling onto it. Shin'ya and Yoichi eliminate all of the normal vampires on the ground they can while the infantry battles Lucal.

Shortly afterward, Shin'ya and Yoichi return to the ground and distract Lucal when he charges to attack Special Private Shiho Kimizuki. They successfully exterminate the vampire noble.

The Moon Demon Company regroups, and Team Leader Aiko Aihara arrives with only seven survivors from her squads. Guren Squad, Shinoa Squad, and Narumi Squad leave to hunt Thirteenth Progenitor Crowley Eusford, Seventeenth Progenitor Chess Belle, and Horn Skuld while Aiko waits for other survivors to pass them the order to reconvene at Nagoya Airport. Shin'ya asks Guren if he is okay after losing so many soldiers, but Guren claims he will go home and cry later. Shin'ya goes with the team hunting down the three nobles.

Demon Weapon

 * Byakkomaru 「lit. White Tiger」: A manifestation-type weapon from the Black Demon series. It takes the form of a rifle. Byakkomaru's specialty is long-range fighting and is not very effective in close-range combat. It's materialized form is multiple white tigers. He can also fire at something and make the tigers come from behind whatever he shot at, but he can only do this once within an unspecified amount of time.

Trivia

 * Shin'ya means "Deep Night." Hīragi 「柊」 literally means "Holly".

Manga

 * "Byakkomaru, fire. 'Bang.'"--Shin'ya when he fires his weapon, multiple chapters
 * "Er, Yu? I wouldn't trust what Kureto says if I were you. It isn't wise."--Shin'ya to Yuichiro, Chapter 17, "Cursed Guinea Pig"
 * "I don't like picking on powerless kids like you do."--Shin'ya to Kureto, Chapter 17, "Cursed Guinea Pig"
 * "Aha ha! Are you planning to add my name to your list of people to punch later? I'll keep my name to myself, thank you."--Shin'ya to Yu when Yu asks who he is, Chapter 17, "Cursed Guinea Pig"
 * "Aha ha... I feel the same way. Sheesh... This place is truly... rotten."--Shin'ya to himself about the JIDA, Chapter 17, "Cursed Guinea Pig"
 * "Attacking vampire nobles with only 100 soldiers? That just isn't sane."--Shin'ya to Guren at the Ebina Rest Stop, Chapter 24, "The Moon Demon's Orders"
 * "You're still going to die. But you're going to go anyway, because you're stupid like that. So I decided to be nice and come help you. Again. Now where's your thank you?"--Shin'ya to Guren at the Ebina Rest Stop, Chapter 24, "The Moon Demon's Orders"
 * "Heh heh! To be honest... I can only shoot from behind like that once. Yet you panicked and focused on your backs. It was adorable."--Shin'ya to Shiho Kimizuki and Yoichi Saotome, Chapter 26, "Thirst Logic"
 * "This is your first sniping mission, correct? Guren asked me to walk you through it. So I'll teach you, okay? First, calm down. Take a few deep breaths. Calm your body. Slowly... take control of the space. As snipers, our job is to stay calmer than anyone and kill the enemy. We back up our allies on the ground... and if things go south and we must retreat... we must kill any of our allies who fail to escape, before they can be captured and tortured."--Shin'ya to Yoichi on sniping, Chapter 27, "Vampire Noble Lucal"
 * "I just want to know if you're okay. A lot of good people died today. You've never been good at handling that kind of loss."--Shin'ya to Guren, Chapter 29, "Who's Pulling the Strings?"