Shigeru Sonoda

An elderly and tall man, Shigeru wears his dark hair combed straight back and shows deep wrinkles across a face marked by an odd rounded swelling on his forehead. His clothing is simple, a light jacket worn over matching pants and shoes.

Shigeru is wholly committed to the Time Vessel Association and its worship of Master Tengen. His faith ran deep enough that he was ready to hire a killer rather than let a Star Plasma Vessel complete its merger with Tengen. He likewise rejected the doctrine Suguru Geto would go on to preach, and that refusal is what ultimately got him killed.

After Toji Fushiguro brought in the Star Plasma Vessel's body, Shigeru verified the corpse as Riko Amanai and threw in some extra pay for Toji's trouble. He then traced how Master Tengen had carried Japanese Buddhism through the Nara era and seeded the principles that jujutsu sorcery would later grow from, before stating that no impure merger could be tolerated and that the association would gladly fall with the star if necessary, after which he took the body off elsewhere. Later still, a new congregation gathered from the leftovers of the Star Religious Group together with sympathetic newcomers, and it was them Suguru Geto came to address. Shigeru spoke up against him, yet was savagely crushed to death the instant he set foot on the stage.