This section contains spoilers for the Chimera Heart webcomic! Please read at your own risk!
Personality:
When comparing himself to the other members of House #13, Kashi defines himself as "the sarcastic one." He acts cool, confident, and strong (the way that all teenage boys try to be) and usually cracks casual jokes. He is very overprotective of his little sister, Ita, much to her annoyance. Despite his outward demeanor of "not caring," Kashi is probably the most sensitive person in House #13 (aside from Mazenta). He struggles to adjust to change, and because of the Fire of Mythenhaft, his overprotectiveness of Ita can sometimes go too far.
Powers and Abilities:
Kashi is a male chimera, so he possesses all male chimeran powers. These include:
- Shapeshifting: Kashi can shapeshift into a chimera monster, a large beast with the heads of a lion, ram, and a dragon, a snake for a tail, and dragon wings. Kashi can also simply summon his wings and snake tail while in his human form.
- Flight: With his dragon wings summoned, Kashi is able to fly.
- Respiratory Pyrokinesis (Fire-Breathing): Kashi can breath fire both in and out of his chimera form.
Backstory (Spoilers):
Kashi grew up in the Chimeran Village, located in the Mythenhaft Forest. The Chimeran Village is a civilization that is the capital of the Chimeran territory, the area of the Forest dominated by chimeras. Nearly four years before the events of “Chimera Heart,” a great tragedy called “The Fire of Mythenhaft” took place. A massive wildfire destroyed over one-third of the entire forest, leaving many of Mythenhaft’s civilizations in ruins. Many of the forest’s citizens were injured or lost their lives. The cause of the fire was unknown. After losing their homes in the Fire, the chimeras relocated to a new place in the surviving portion of the forest. With the help of the Crest of the Stars, the village was able to build back quickly, and they continue to live there today. Because of the Fire of Mythenhaft, Kashi is very overprotective of Ita, his younger sister. He is scared to lose her after he came so close to losing her before. However, he rarely exposes this fear directly, hiding behind a façade of sarcasm and rude humor (the same way a lot of teenage boys hide their issues). He tends to make fun of Ita and her overly-enthusiastic tendencies, but he tends to get embarrassed when Ita pokes fun at him in return.
History in Chimera Heart (Spoilers):
Arc 1
Kashi and Ita leave the Chimeran Village to attend Carnelian City High. Before they leave, Kashi promises their father that he’ll protect her while they’re away from home.
When the two arrive in Carnelian City, they discover that they are assigned to the same house, much to each other’s annoyance. When they step into House #13, they meet their new housemates: Taimu, Mazenta, Kokoro, Faji, and Una. Kashi introduces himself very casually to the group.
The next day, Kashi tells the group that he wants to join the football team. When Ita says that she wants to be a cheerleader, Kashi bursts out laughing. In Chapter 5, Kashi hears Ita screaming from her room. With his wings and his snake tail summoned, he frantically sprints to her room only to find her squealing with excitement about being accepted to the cheer team. He switches moods, going from protective to peeved, and huffs off.
In the Chapter 5 interstitial, it’s revealed that Kashi made it onto the football team, although the practices are very difficult. In Chapter 7, we see him get a little bit of playing time in a game. When Ita cheers him on, he becomes very embarrassed. After the game, Kashi, Ita, Faji, Una, and Mazenta have to walk home after Taimu and Kokoro become unavailable to give them a ride. Kashi proclaims that he gets little playing time because he’s one of the “newbies” on the team, to which Faji sarcastically scoffs at.
Suddenly, this group gets chased by a shadow monster. Ita tries to fight it by shapeshifting into her full chimera form. Kashi, frightened for his younger sister, shapeshifts into his full form as well. As they fight the monster, Kashi shouts at Ita to stand back and let him handle it. Ita argues that she can take him down, but Kashi doesn’t want Ita to get hurt. However, before the argument can go any further, Kashi and Ita become trapped in ice by Masuku, a Yami’s Army member. Masuku, fond of the siblings’ chimera shapeshifting powers, wants to recruit them to the Army, but before anything bad can happen, a trio of Starriors swoops in and chases the Army members off.
Ita is enamored by the Starriors saving them, wishing that she could be that strong to protect her friends. However, Kashi confronts Ita about her sudden fantasies of Starriorship, saying that she’s being impulsive, spurring an argument between the two. Ita claims that she can make her own decisions, but Kashi shouts, “I just don’t want to lose you again!” This causes Ita to go cold and walk out of the room. Kashi immediately regrets it.
When the others ask what Kashi meant by that phrase, he reveals his and Ita’s experience with the Fire of Mythenhaft. Kashi explains that the Fire changed his relationship with Ita, becoming more protective of her. After this, Kashi decides to talk to Ita to sort things out. However, he panics when he walks into Ita’s bedroom, seeing that the window is wide open. He frantically runs to the window, calling to Ita, but quickly realizes that she’s simply on the roof. Sighing in relief, he climbs onto the roof as well and sits next to Ita, apologizing to her and telling her that she can be a Starrior if she wants to, but should put some more thought into it if she is serious about it. Kashi agrees to ease up on being overprotective.
Arc 2
At lunch one day, Kashi mentions that he was going to casually ask his friend, Hollyhock, to the homecoming dance. He does so, with Ita constantly teasing him about it.
Over the holiday break, Kashi and Ita go back to their home in the Chimeran Village. He attends the annual Chimeran New Year's Festival with Ita, Naya, and Tyon. After engaging in some festivities, Naya and Tyon leads the siblings into the woods and shows the pair the treehouse they all used to play in as kids, albeit somewhat charred from the Fire of Mythenhaft. Ita and Kashi spot clusters of roses growing around the burnt tree stumps, suspiciously thriving and healthy despite the cold winter weather. The group is then ambushed by Ginga, Orokana, and Rogue, three new Yami's Army members. Yami emerges from the shadows and extends the same offer that was given to Ita and Kashi previously: join Yami's army or die. The group reject the offer and attempt to fly away. Before they can all get safely to the Chimera Village, Kashi is shot down by Ginga. He lands on the snowy forest floor, where is greeted by Masuku and Yami. Yami threatens to kill him and shoots Kashi with a small dosage of umbrakinesis into his chest. This causes Kashi to experience vivid hallucinations, which give the illusion of him reliving the Fire of Mythenhaft. Weakened and unable to move from the effects, Yami prepares a "more fatal dose." Before Yami can use her umbrakinesis to kill Kashi, Ita swoops in and fends Yami and Masuku off long enough for the siblings to escape. Ita leads Kashi back to the Chimera Village. Kashi is safe, but very shaken up from the experience, having just relived his trauma.
Arc 3
In Chapter 23, Kashi, Faji, Una, and Ita eavesdrop on Karami’s interrogation. When Karami reveals that Yami caused the Fire of Mythenhaft, Kashi covers his mouth in shock, giving Ita a tearful look.
