A warrior of Uesugi who answered Kenshin's call to be resurrected two years ago (after the events at Hagi), he was Naoe's friend 400 years ago and fought on the Kagekatsu side during the Otate no Ran.

He is described as having an angular, sunburned face and is shorter than Naoe (which he resents).

An employee of Keibu Real Estate, said to be a distant relative of its CEO Tatsumi Yoshitsugu. A descendant of the Satomi Clan with psychic powers of his own.

Described as looking like a young industrialist with flawless poise, he wears silver thin-rimmed glasses and is around 30. He has almond-shaped black eyes and black hair he usually wears slicked back.

A possessor spirit who stalks Naoe in Tokyo with the intention of feeding his essence to his magic flute, Kasumimaru. He prefers to take possession of young men.

He learns that Naoe is Uesugi and later joins forces with him.

A young information trader who is Murauchi Senzou's protégé. He meets with Naoe at a club in Shinjuku and impresses him with his work ethic. Naoe hires him to search for Takaya.

Blood type: O

A girl in the same class as Narita Yuzuru and Ougi Takaya at Jouhoku High who has a crush on Yuzuru. She is described as having a round, child-like face and a loud, piercing voice. She seems full of energy most of the time, and unlike many of the other girls, is not intimidated by Takaya. She is a member of the Tennis Club at their high school.

Also known as: Nagao Kagetaka (長尾景孝), Nagao Toukurou (長尾藤九郎)
Title: Yamato no Kami (大和守)

Historically: Son of Nagao Akikage, he became head of the Sousha-Nagao Clan at a young age. He later (around 1545) passed the position to his younger brother Nagao Kagefusa. When the clan was destroyed by Takeda Shingen and their territory lost, the family escaped into Echigo. There Kagefusa became a monk, and Kagetaka was adopted by Naoe Sanetsuna when he married Sanetsuna's daughter, Osen-no-Kata. He succeeded his adopted father as master of Yoita Castle in 1577 and was a vassal of Uesugi Kenshin. He promptly took the side of Uesugi Kagekatsu during the war for succession after Kenshin's death and mobilized the members of the Naoe Clan at the castle to subdue Kagetora's troops.

After the intra-house war and Kagekatsu's victory, a question of reward was called into question. Yasuda Akimoto, one of Kagekatsu's trusted commanders, had promised rewards to Shibata Shigeie, Mouri Hidehiro, and others to convince them to join Kagekatsu's side. However, Yamazaki Hidenori, Naoe, and others objected, for they had risked life and limb at Kasugayama Castle from the very beginning of the battle, while Shibata Shigeie and the others had been lured by promise of reward from Yasuda Akimoto.

Yasuda Akimoto committed suicide when he could not keep his promise of reward. Later, Mouri Hidehiro, carrying a grudge for his death, murdered Yamazaki Hidenori at Kasugayama Castle; Naoe, who was with him at the time and took up a sword to defend himself, was killed as well. His death ended the Naoe line, which Kagekatsu later resurrected by marrying Naoe's widow, Osen-no-Kata to Higuchi Kanetsugu and commanding him to take the Naoe name.

In Mirage of Blaze: According to Kousaka Danjou, and Houjou Ujiteru he was the ringleader of Uesugi Kagekatsu's forces in the Otate no Ran. He is now Uesugi Kagetora's protector and one of the Yasha-shuu under his command. He alone, as Kagetora's protector, was given the power to perform kanshou on other souls, a power he used to force Kagetora's soul into Minako's body.

The guidance counselor at Fukashi Junior High School while Takaya was a student there.

Described as a middle-aged man with a deep, harsh voice, an overbearing expression, and bad breath. He wears a threadbare necktie and trousers that always look like the same pair. Rumor has it that he's the hen-pecked husband of a woman from one of the old families, and takes his shame and resentment of being adopted into his wife's family out on the students. He always carries an elastic stick pointer and likes browbeating the students in the guise of counseling them. Also rumored to have made a female student take her clothes off in front of him.

Birthday: July 23
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 134 lbs
Blood type: O
Possessed by: Uesugi Kagetora

At the beginning of the story Takaya is a seventeen-year-old high school delinquent with no memory of his past. His parents divorced when he was a first-year junior high school student, probably because his father started drinking when his business failed. His mother remarried and lives in Sendai.

He was born and raised in Matsumoto and lives there with his sister, Miya. He attends Jouhoku High and is in the same class (Year Two Group Three) as his best friend, Narita Yuzuru.

Notes: He appears as 'Takaya' in narration. Nagahide and Haruie call him 'Kagetora', and Naoe calls him 'Kagetora-sama' and 'Takaya-san'. Most of the students at Jouhoku High call him 'Ougi-kun' (Chiaki calls him 'Ougi' at school). Miya calls him 'Onii-chan', and Yuzuru calls him 'Takaya'.

An acquaintance of both Tachibana Yoshiaki and his elder brother, who works as a local news reporter for a major Tokyo newspaper company. Naoe met him eight years ago (when Naoe was 22) during a case involving onryou turmoil precipitated by the sinking of a mountain village caused by a large dam construction project. Sonoda made his name by reporting on corruption by the Ministry of Construction in the same project.

Naoe goes to him after Takaya's disappearance as an effort to establish an information network of his own (independent of Uesugi's information apparatus).