Yashiro

Yashiro(矢代) is the protagonist of the Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai (Twittering Birds Never Fly) series. Masochistic, lewd, gorgeous, and successful, he is a relatively high ranking yakuza boss. Under his leadership, the Shinsekai Group is the highest-earning faction of the larger Doushinkai Group.

Appearance
Yashiro is regarded by most if not all the characters in Saezuru, to be beautiful and extremely handsome. He is a pale man of average stature and a well-toned body with grayish blonde hair and sly dark golden eyes. Yashiro's handsome face is particularly well-chiseled complete with a tall nose and thin, straight eyebrows.

Before Chapter 36, he has relatively short hair that is partially swept over to his right. The hair on the back of his head is shaved slightly shorter. Yashiro often wears formal attire including a black buttoned dress vest over a long-sleeved, collared white shirt and black tie. In addition, he dons black suit pants and brown laced shoes. After Chapter 36, it seems as if his hair has grown a lot longer and is slicked back instead of partially swept. Misumi has commented that Yashiro has grown more attractive with age. When he was younger (High School to age 19), Yashiro left his hair alone with his bangs covering his forehead. He often wore long-sleeved shirts, especially at school (even in the summertime) in order to hide his rope burns and injuries resulting from his masochistic affairs.

Personality
Yashiro describes himself in chapter 1.1 as "twisted beyond repair" and "a good actor" as no matter how messed up he is, nothing ever shows on his face. .

He calls himself a "public toilet" and freely speaks about his innumerable sexual experiences with anyone and almost everyone he comes across. Naturally flirtatious, cynical, and quite perverted, Yashiro is described by others as a very eccentric man. He is also a very charismatic and capable leader who makes it a rule not to lay his hands on his subordinates. Yoneda-sensei, the series' author, has also added that he is a splendid talker. .

While on the outside he comes across as a carefree and at times mindless man who only thinks about sex, his pensive thoughts scattered across the panels demonstrate his inner melancholy stemming from the years of abuse at the hands of his stepfather, his unrequited love for Kanji Kageyama, and later on, his growing mutual affections for Doumeki.

It is evident that he uses sex as a coping mechanism to deal with the suffering inflicted in his youth. Other characters have also caught on to this such as Nanahara.

Background
His biological father has not been mentioned in the story, however, his mother had remarried to his stepfather when Yashiro was young and he had grown up in a small apartment.

As of chapter 40, not much is really known about his mother except that she had left him alone for perhaps months on end after his stepfather had left them. His mother either does not know about his abuse from his stepfather or chose to ignore it. He does not have a very favorable view of his mother and in chapter 32, he gazed at a mother and son pair with a painful look as they walked through the rain together.

His stepfather abused him since he was very young and raped him continuously in a cramped closet of the apartment while his mother would sleep away peacefully.

He attended a normal high school where he did not participate in any club activities and his only friend was Kageyama who is also his first love. Yashiro made it his goal not to be noticed by anyone at school and he spent most of his youth indulging in sex. He had said that was not interested in heterosexual sex after an encounter in middle school where his girlfriend had cried. In the first chapter, he said that he was bisexual.

At first, Yashiro and Kageyama had developed a strange relationship in which Kageyama was fascinated with Yashiro's scars and burns. However, after Yashiro had told him about his stepfather, Kageyama remained by Yashiro's side since then only as a lifelong friend.

Yashiro has kept Kageyama's contact lens case as a memento for over 20 years.

Chikara Dōmeki
Together, they are the main couple of the series with Doumeki as the seme and Yashiro as the uke.

At the beginning of the series, Doumeki has said that he had always thought Yashiro was beautiful and had admired him from afar prior to the start of the series. However, Yashiro and Doumeki do not officially meet until Chapter 1.3 at the office in which Doumeki walks in while Yashiro is in the middle of having sex with a detective. .

Yashiro takes an interest in Doumeki due to his impotence and the two develop feelings for each other as the series progresses. Doumeki is extremely attached to Yashiro to the point where he would do anything for him and it is noted throughout the series that his actions and thoughts mirror those of the late Kurobane, Misumi's right-hand man before Amou.

In the beginning, Yashiro's attachment starts when he sucks on Doumeki's unerected penis and makes him walk around in a police officer's uniform. Yashiro gifts him a tiger shirt which Doumeki continues to keep in a safe place. As of Chapter 5, Doumeki was already cured of his impotence. . Wishing to remain at Yashiro's side, the loyal Doumeki pretends that he is still impotent so Yashiro would not leave him. When Yashiro is shot in chapter 8, Doumeki takes it upon himself that it is his fault for failing to protect Yashiro and cuts off his pinky finger. Doumeki also states in this chapter that he is willing to be used as a "鉄砲玉(teppoudama)" a word that signifies gun bullet. In yakuza terms, this is a gang member that is mostly sent on assassinating mission of rival gang members. These missions usually end with death, which means that Doumeki is willing to throw his life away if Yashiro so desires. .

In Chapter 15, Yashiro begins to realize that he secretly cared about what Doumeki thought of him. .

They have sex in Chapters 24 and 25 which prompts Yashiro to try and abandon him although Doumeki returns to his side by chapter 31. Although Yashiro does develop feelings and falls in love with Doumeki, he tries to repress his love. Yashiro fears what these feelings will bring and says in chapter 32 that "If I let him into my heart, I will have to abandon who I am....but this guy will never understand what that entails."

Doumeki calls Yashiro two different things: "kashira" meaning boss and "anata" which is a familiar way of addressing someone you know intimately. Yashiro does not like the latter term and berates Doumeki for his usage of this word in 32.

Doumeki saves Yashiro's life in Chapter 34. Yashiro claims not to remember Doumeki which Nanahara immediately calls out as a blatant lie in Chapter 35.5. After the timeskip and their separation however, Yashiro begins to slowly forget Doumeki.

Kanji Kageyama
They are friends from high school, their relationship starting when Kageyama provides him Band-Aids after noticing Yashiro's rope burns. He shares private information on himself with him, and speaks candidly about matters, and notes him as someone that average people would not understand. He is Yashiro's life long friend and first love.

It is revealed in Chapter 10 that part of the reason Yashiro had joined the yakuza was to protect Kageyama's family's hospital that was about to be seized by the yakuza. It is unknown if Kageyama knows about this, but he does frequently treat members of Yashiro's gang. .

In chapter 35, Yashiro asks Kageyama why he had chosen Kuga over him. Kageyama merely rebuts with a question, not giving a clear answer.

Eishin Kuga
Yashiro had taken an interest in Kuga, or "Mad Dog" and unintentionally plays matchmaker in Don't Stay Gold as Kuga ends up dating Kageyama. Yashiro wonders many times throughout the series why Kageyama had chosen Kuga rather than himself.

Kuga is one of the first to point out that Yashiro was in love with Doumeki, even before Kageyama had found out.

Yūsuke Nanahara
Yashiro's right-hand man. Nanahara is extremely loyal to Yashiro and beats up Doumeki when he had failed to protect Yashiro, even going as far as to tell Doumeki to cut off his pinky finger. In Chapter 13, when he suspects that Ryuuzaki is responsible for the attempted assassination of Yashiro, Nanahara goes to investigate the truth himself. Nanahara gets extremely upset when he finds out that Hirata is after Yashiro, saying that he would not allow Yashiro to be ridiculed. In chapter 20, Nanahara takes a bullet in the shoulder to protect him as well. It is also shown that Nanahara pays close attention and truly cares/worries for Yashiro as he suggests that Yashiro gets his eyes checked in chapter 36 following an injury left by Hirata years before.

Nanahara, himself, has also mentioned that Yashiro is extremely beautiful.

Nanahara and Yashiro had first met when Nanahara was involved with Sakamaki, a con man whom he believed was kind and empathetic. Sakamaki, in fact, was involved in an affair with Hirata's wife and steals a box filled with cash and jewelry. Both Sakamaki and Hirata's wife frame Nanahara, leaving him with Hirata's men. This is when Yashiro discovers the truth, saving Nanahara. Since then, Nanahara had felt indebted to Yashiro and has been loyal to him. He and Sugimoto often drive Yashiro around.

Before Doumeki had come to the story, Yoneda Kou had stated that Nanahara was the go-to driver/chef/etc. After the time skip, Nanahara fulfills these roles once more.

Ryuuzaki
Technically, he is also a sworn brother of Yashiro within the yakuza. Ryuuzaki knew Yashiro since Yashiro was 19 and Yashiro would often hang around a mahjong parlor that belonged to Ryuuzaki's group, the Matsubara group.

Ryuuzaki is in love with Yashiro but he hates the fact that he is. Throughout the series, Ryuuzaki is torn between betraying his sworn brother, Hirata (who wants to kill Yashiro and get rid of him so he can become the leader of the Doushinkai group), and betraying his love for Yashiro. When Hirata tells Ryuuzaki to kill Yashiro, Ryuuzaki hires a gunman within the group to injure Yashiro in chapter 8. Rather than actually killing Yashiro, this serves as a warning for Yashiro to warn him that there is someone who is after him. Because the gun is identified by Misumi as being from their gang, this also alerts Misumi and Yashiro that the real perpetrator is a traitor amongst the group.

When Hirata captures Ryuuzaki for refusing to kill Yashiro, Ryuuzaki does not give in and remains loyal to Yashiro even when Hirata kidnaps his woman as a hostage. Yashiro saves Ryuuzaki and in the car ride, Ryuuzaki hides his wound from Yashiro because he does not want to appear as weak.

After Ryuuzaki is framed for having drugs, he is sent to jail in Chapter 36. Yashiro visits him after 4 years.

Misumi
Yashiro describes his relationship with Misumi in Chapter 1.3 with the following statement "we were like brothers in the beginning, but now we're just like brothers."

Misumi had found Yashiro when the latter had just graduated from high school and didn't have anywhere to go. Misumi was the leader of the Shinseikai group at the time and Yashiro was involved with the Matsubara group. Misumi finds the young Yashiro to be particularly interesting and takes him under his wing. It is revealed in Chapter 10 that one of the reasons that Misumi was attracted to Yashiro was because Yashiro had reminded Misumi of his late wife. Misumi also sees talent in Yashiro as he was able to come up with 500,000 yen in a relatively small amount of time.

At the beginning of the story, Misumi had expressed his desire to become Chairman and taking Yashiro with him. Though Yashiro wishes to remain in the same position, Misumi wishes for Yashiro to take over as the leader of the Doushinkai group as Misumi ascends to a higher rank.

They have a strange relationship that is complicated by the fact that they were once lovers. Misumi is like a parent figure to Yashiro as he was the one who had taken him in at the lowest point in his life and brought him up to be the person he is today. Within the yakuza, their relationship is labeled as oyabun-kobun. Oyabun, literally meaning "parental status" and kobun, literally meaning "child status." It is akin to an adoptive father-son relationship.

4 years after the Shinsekai group is disbanded, Misumi invites Yashiro to join the yakuza once again.

Hirata
They are sworn-brothers within the Yakuza with Hirata being the leader of the Chokusekai group. Hirata, unlike Yashiro, wishes to take over the Doushinkai group after Misumi. He is jealous of Yashiro because he had always believed that he was a better fit to take over the Doushinkai group and hates Misumi for not choosing him.

Sugimoto
He is another one of Yashiro's underlings who makes recurrent appearances. He is also loyal to Yashiro.

Aoi Dōmeki
He and Aoi were both sexually abused and he contrasts their different coping mechanisms. Yashiro is part of the reason that Aoi and Chikara's broken relationship was mended.

Trivia

 * According to Yoneda Kou, Yashiro loves junk food, sweet foods (mainly chocolate), sex, and cars.
 * (Originally in a previous post made by Yoneda Kou, Yashiro did not like sweet food. However, in an omake, he is shown with his favorite brand of chocolate)
 * His favorite condom brand is Uru Uru
 * Yashiro has ranked favorite Uke in Yoneda Kou's 2018 fan book.
 * His choice of underwear, according to the author, is briefs.
 * He smokes Garam cigarettes.
 * He is a bad driver and he only has his license because Misumi made him get one
 * His animal counterpart is a Russian Blue Cat.
 * Yoneda Kou has stated that if Yashiro was not in the yakuza, his most likely occupation would be a lawyer because he talks so well. He could also have been a scammer..