Shinra Kusakabe

Shinra Kusakabe is the main protagonist of the manga Fire Brigade of Flames. He is a Third Generation Fire Officer at the 8th Special Fire Brigade of Tokyo. In training school, he was nicknamed Demon.

Appearance
Shinra is a young boy of average height with short and spiky dark brown hair, and glowing red eyes. He's first seen wearing a black suit over a white shirt, a pair of black trousers and black boots which burnt like many others when he ignited them to save Iris. He was later given a Bunker gear, which consists of a tank top buckled at the waist with a belt, which presses a middle part that's strapped to his shoulders, and dark colored shorts. Those are later topped by protective outer jacket and trousers, and finished with a helmet.

Personality
Shinra is energetic and confident, not hesitating to act immediately when the time calls for it and is very proud of his ambition of becoming a hero. However, Shinra suffers from nervous laughter, which is a real life condition where animals naturally grin or show their teeth when nervous, stressed, angered or uncomfortable. Such things as running into a schoolgirl even made him nervous and when he saved Iris from a falling object. He was quite easily made shaky by Akitaru Ōbi staring him in the face, and is naturally nervous around girls since he's been in training with males only for an extended period of time. Aside from this, he isn't easily agitated by other people's words and opinions on his ambitions, as demonstrated when Takehisa Hinawa asked if he wanted to become a hero just for his reputation.

Background
During his childhood, Shinra lived with his mom and his little brother Sho. At some point, he promised his mother to become a hero, so that he could protect her and Sho. One night, he woke up to his house on fire and according to him, something was present in the house, which lead to his family being incinerated along with their house. Afterwards, he was labeled as the perpetrator and others became aware that he was a Third Generation. After the ordeal, Shinra attempted to move to his grandmother, but she thought of him as a monster, calling him a demon and saying he doesn't even realize what he has done. This occurrence led to Shinra being blamed, even though Shinra himself states that there was another "black shadow" beside his own shadow on that day.

Plot
Shinra attempts to catch up with the train, which had already left the station, but, while on the move, he notices that his foot is flaming up, which distracts Shinra, causing him to bump into a girl, who gets scared away by the boy's creepy and awkward grin. Saddened that he is not able to use his powers to catch up with the train, Shinra, while in the train station, hears an alarm and notices that the train is caught in flames, from which, a flaming creature appears. As the boy readies himself to face the threat, a person announces that the 8th Special Fire Brigade has arrived to save the station. Told by Akitaru Ōbi to leave, the boy overlooks how the man handles the situation, impressed that the man is able to extinguish and kill the combustion human with low difficulty.

When the lights start falling from the ceiling, straight at Iris, Shinra jumps in to save the woman, revealing his powers to the public and burning through his shoes in the process. When asked who he is by Takehisa, Shinra introduces himself as a Fire Officer, to be enrolled in the Special 8th Fire Brigade. Shinra later arrives at the 8th Special Fire Fighting Church, where he is given his own uniform, and meets Akitaru, while also is formally introduced to Takehisa. The two superior Fire Officers then tease Shinra when they learn of his nervous laughter, and follow up with a question regarding why he decided to join the brigade, to which he replies that his ambition is to become a hero. A little bit later, Shinra meets Maki Oze and is formally introduced to Iris. The boy gets excited, having attention of two attractive girls, which was unusual for him in the past. Akitaru then delivers a talk regarding known information of the Human Body Ignition Phenomenon, which makes Shinra recall his past and current ambition in the process. While in bed, Shinra recollects the "black shadow" that has wronged him in the past, but his train of thought gets cut short when the sound of a siren signals trouble. Maki runs into the boy's room, telling him to get ready and informing him of the situation in the process. Shinra gets into the Special Armored Fire Engine and moves out, dedicated to become a hero and encouraged by Akitaru to do his best.

After arriving on the scene, Akitaru warns the crew of the falling debris in the factory; that in which the fire is taking place. Heading into the factory, Shinra contemplates the act of destroying a Flame Being and how is is equivalent to killing a real person. Shortly after heading in, the brigade comes across the burnt corpse of the last employee of the factory whom they set out to save, who failed to escape, making their primary mission the extinguishing of the Flame Being. Once at the scene, Shinra is shaking in fear, which Takehisa reminds him the purpose of the blue lines for. Distracted by Maki showing her Second Generation abilities, Shinra is caught off guard by the Flame Being who knocks him out.

While knocked out, Shinra recalls his past before being awaken by Takehisa who tells him to stand up if he can, confirming that the boy has only been out for 5 seconds. Still indifferent about the issue in hand, Shinra aggregates his thoughts to finally decide to fight. With the squad cooperating in order to deal with the peculiarly intelligent Flame Being, Shinra; with his horrid past in mind, launches himself towards the Flame Being, igniting his feet in the process. Overcoming his fears, the boy delivers a fatal kick to the core of the Flame Being's heart, sending her to the afterlife in peace. He overhears the spectators chanting for him and cheering while the rest of the crew praises him, saying that he has finally become the hero he longed to be. Elated, Shinra shows off a delighted smile instead of his usual anxious grin.

Powers and Abilities
Shinra is a Third Generation ignition user, able to kindle, control and utilize flames he generates to his own will. So far, he has only shown the ability to ignite fire on his feet, allowing him to run longer distances with much greater speed, and multiply his kicking power drastically. The ashes he leaves on the floor in image of his footprints were noted to be called the "Demon's Footprints".

Trivia

 * "Shinra" (森羅) is derived from the Japanese word "shinrabanshō", which, when translated, can mean either "all creation" or "all things in nature".