Kuniharu Kakizaki

"Just because these new guys will surpass us, it shouldn't diminish my squadmates' true value."

- Kuniharu Kakizaki

Kuniharu Kakizaki is a B-rank All-Rounder and the captain of Kakizaki Squad. He is a former member of Arashiyama Squad.

Appearance
Kakizaki is a light-skinned young man with ash blond Ivy League hair and grey eyes. His uniform consists in a high-collared, zipped jacket in a bright persimmon color with matching headphones, a black undershirt, boots and dark gray-brown pants.

Personality
Kakizaki is quite friendly, demonstrated when he guided Yūma Kuga to the solo rank war booths despite being his upcoming opponent. He has a reputation of being overly cautious in combat, although Mitsuru Tokieda extols it as a virtue as his squad was the only one to have no one bailout during the Recent Invasion and argues instead that Kakizaki has a tendency to shoulder all the responsibility himself. In fact, he has low confidence in himself, but high confidence in his teammates, blaming himself for their low position in the ranking.

Kakizaki Squad
Kakizaki cherishes his squadmates, whom he believes to be exceptionally talented, even believing that Border's Stats for them are lower than what they should be. Although he was happy they decided to enlist in his Squad, he still struggles to understand why they would choose to be by his side. He blames himself for the Squad's low placement in the rankings, apologizing to them after their match against Tamakoma Second, but his teammates defend his leadership and he is both relieved and moved to see them suggest improvements, on top of being invited to join them. His squadmates admire him deeply and refer to him when speaking as their captain, but that does not prevent them from bantering when not strategizing. Madoka Ui refers to him by a nickname followed by the honorific -san, implying both closeness and respect, while Fumika Teruya and Kotarō Tomoe mostly call him "Captain" in combat. Kakizaki on the other hand appears to use their first names without appending an honorific.

Jun Arashiyama
Arashiyama and Kakizaki are friends and hang out together with other agents their age. Since the former has a tendency to fool around when going out with Ikoma and Jin, Kakizaki ends up looking after them. When they joined Border, Kakizaki admired Arahiyama but also felt inadequate when he compared himself to him. Arashiyama greeted him as a rival when he left. Kakizaki refers to his former teammate by his surname, without appending an honorific.

Tatsuhito Ikoma and Yūichi Jin
Arashiyama, Kakizaki, Ikoma, and Jin are part of the same group of friends and hang out together in their free time. With the normally level-headed Arashiyama letting himself be influenced by Jin's and Ikoma's penchant for skylarking, Kakizaki may find himself having to look after the others.

Yūko Kumagai and Ryō Utagawa
Kakizaki, Kumagai, and Utagawa play basketball together in their free time.

Ken Satori
Kakizaki and Satori appeared to be on good terms when they were teammates, with Satori crying when he decided to leave. Satori addresses Kakizaki by his surname followed by the honorific -san.

Haruka Ayatsuji
Ayatsuji and Kakizaki seemingly enjoyed a good relationship when they were teammates. She found an Operator for him as soon as he left the Squad. Kakizaki refers to Ayatsuji by her surname, without adding an honorific.

Mitsuru Tokieda
Tokieda considers Kakizaki one of his favorite senior members, referring to him as a senpai.

Masato Kageura
Kageura and Kakizaki are presumably on good terms with one another, since they address each other by a nickname, with the Attacker even adding the honorific -san.

Quotes

 * "This team isn't supposed to be hanging around in this position."
 * (To Yūma Kuga) "Interesting... Show me what you've got, rookie!"
 * (At the press conference) "We will do our best to protect the city and its citizens!"
 * "My family or the people...?! How am I supposed to answer that...?!"
 * "I never thought that I was a good soldier."
 * "Fumika and Kotarō... and Madoka... I don't deserve such great squadmates."
 * "The fact that such great agents are are still wandering between the middle and low level in B-rank is all because of me, a captain who can't bring out their true strength."
 * "Just because these new guys will surpass us, it shouldn't diminish my squadmates' true value."
 * (To Yūma Kuga) "You're definitely strong, but... Sorry. I have no intention of handing victory over to you."

Trivia

 * "Kuhinaru" (国治) means "country government", while "Kakizaki" (柿崎) means " cape". Coincidentally, persimmon is the color of his Squad's jackets.
 * He likes gyūdon, watermelon and all of sports.
 * His dog is listed among his family members.
 * He has a driver's license.
 * The author described Kakizaki as a riajū (リア充), a pejorative term for someone who lives a happy and fulfilling life, and joked that he will live to the age of 92.
 * Kakizaki's teammate Tomoe received the same epithet.