Yusuke Sakurai

Yusuke Sakurai (桜威 遊介, Sakurai Yūsuke) is an esper and a former member of Claw. He was part of the upper echelon called "Scar".

Appearance
Sakurai is a man of average height and build. He has somewhat heavy eyebrows and a scar that runs vertically from his jaw up his left cheek. He wears his short black hair entirely slicked back. He wears glasses with thick black frames and a plain black suit with a black tie.

Personality
Sakurai is stern, focused, confident, and cautious. He often scolds others, especially Koyama, for their mistakes or foolish behavior.

He seems somewhat more reasonable than other Claw members, as he did not have to be physically defeated to learn his lesson.

History
Sakurai's parents abandoned him at birth, and grew up in an orphanage. Unfortunately, he was bullied throughout his time at the orphanage, and the curse was the only thing that kept him alive.

7th Branch Arc
Sakurai first appeared after invading the Awakening Lab, defeating all the adults, and tying up the five children who were there. He brought them back to Claw's 7th Division facility. He reprimanded Koyama for not capturing Mob, attended the Scar cadre's meeting, and teamed up with Muraki to defeat the intruding Teruki Hanazawa. By not directly confronting Mob, Sakurai was one of the last Scar members standing.

After witnessing Reigen's Hypnosis Punch, Sakurai tried to slice him with his plastic sword. When Teru stopped him, he sliced off the top half of the boy's haystack wig and challenged him with a flurry of slashes. At a critical moment, Sakurai slashed Reigen across the back and was subsequently shocked to find that it had only cut as deep as his suit. After a failed attempt to decapitate Reigen led to his plastic sword getting snapped in half, he was dumbfounded. Further slashing with his broken sword proved useless, and Sakurai lost his composure, grabbing Reigen by the collar and starting up a monologue about how society failed him. Reigen's subsequent response did not amuse him. He tried some more Curse Toys to no avail, with one even getting confiscated. In the end, Sakurai and Muraki were mentally defeated by Reigen's words' strength.

World Domination Arc
Weeks later, Sakurai reappeared with Koyama, picking up Mob with their car. After Koyama assured the latter that they had no intent to harm him, Sakurai allowed him to ask questions. However, when he informed him that they didn't know where Mob's family was when questioned, Mob suddenly lifted the car and declared that he had no reason to go with them and was about to get off. Pleading that he mustn't break the car, Sakurai desperately told him that his master and friends were waiting for him in an attempt to halt his anger and calm down. Recognizing an ally, Mob demanded to get there quickly, but due to the red light, they couldn't go any faster, prompting him to levitate the car to avoid traffic. Koyama berated Mob for being reckless, but Sakurai informed him that at least they would be able to shake off pursuers.

When Mob finally landed the car on top of Mitsuura's Awakening Lab, they both informed them that they brought him (seemingly quite proud of the accomplishment). After Mob passed out and Dimple gave them a wary look, Koyama insisted that they don't hold a grudge anymore. Dimple expressed his skepticism and questioned their reasons for being present, with one accusation being that they were keeping Reigen hostage. However, Sakurai denied everything and told him that Claw also attacked them, and they were seeking his help which Dimple didn't believe. Tsuchiya, however, confirmed this. Filling them in on what happened after the gang left, the 7th Division got disbanded from the organization, and, realizing how ridiculous they were after getting wrecked by a group of middle schoolers, they started to go against the organization. A distracted Muraki told them he wanted to help society with his powers somehow. Koyama and Sakurai then informed them that the organization does not tolerate traitors. They figured they planned to attack sooner or later to prevent the risk of having them as future enemies. Still, it came much faster than any of them expected. Terada explained that they all got attacked by the henchmen of the Claw HQ. Dimple noted that he looked fine, with Terada saying they were former cadres after all and wouldn't go down that easily. Despite this, Sakurai expressed concern, since their assailants were just regular henchmen and they would have trouble once the real cadre arrived. The former 7th Division then expressed their plans to ally with them to fight against the HQ, with Reigen as the leader. It is told later when a pyrokinetic henchman of Claw burned Reigen's office, Koyama and Sakurai picked Reigen up with their car when he was on the way home. The Awakening Lab kids then expressed concern due to their inability to contact Teru, to know if Ritsu was alright, and tried to be of some use, so they came here. The individual that provided the safe place turned out to be Mitsuura, who managed to be informed that Teru was fine and looked excited to have many espers in one room.

In a meeting later, Sakurai suggests that the Boss will first show off his power to the masses.

The henchman that Teru defeated (and kidnapped, tortured, and interrogated) spilled that the Boss scouted the world for powerful espers for his army. Teru then asked if Japan was their first step towards world domination. Terada is confused about why the boss left Japan in the first place, while Koyama expresses outrage that the Boss thinks that the Scar cadre is not enough for world domination; which Sakurai states that they did fail. The henchman is astounded that they are still going to go against the organization even though they are greatly outnumbered and tells them the best option was to bail out of the country. Sakurai then says that the HQ hadn't noticed that they have their own Ace, who crushed the entire 7th Branch, Reigen, who tells them that Claw is finally starting their act of terror. Then, he advises that they should call the police.

As the group ate dinner, Sakurai expressed concern since the HQ still hadn't attacked.

The next morning, they finally discovered that the Boss had announced his plan last night through television (confirming Koyama's guess). They discuss the public's lack of dramatic reaction, noting that the news treats it as another terrorist group and the masses treat it as a joke, unaware of the immense threat the organization displays. Reigen then asks how serious the organization truly is and if it could actually dominate the world. Sakurai tells him that since they left Claw behind, they can finally see things objectively. He informs him of the organization's lack of maturity from any age group due to the lack of social interaction. This weakness caused them to despise society and the world.

Sakurai fought Shimazaki along with the others. When he was distracted, he managed to skim Shimazaki's face with one of his Jugan Air Gun bullets. After the latter had been defeated, he lent Reigen his Air Gun to go back up Mob in the Culture Tower.

???% Arc
Noticing the chaos caused by Mob's ???% mode, Sakurai and Koyama attempt to protect Smile Mart. They're both shocked to realize it's Mob who's responsible and fails to defend the shop from his immense power. They stand down and leave the area once Suzuki arrives via airdrop, shocked by their old boss' reappearance.

Powers & Abilities
Sakurai is one of the most powerful espers in the 7th Division. He has demonstrated the use of telekinesis to manipulate small objects and enhance his physical abilities. His main power is his ability to place psychic "curses" on inanimate objects to augment their properties. By his own account, there is no "conjurator" in the world that rivals his power. He primarily places them on otherwise harmless objects in order to make them even more dangerous than real weapons, a technique called Jugan (呪玩, "Curse Toys"). In combat, he was strong enough to get the upper hand against Teruki Hanazawa and defeat all members of the Awakening Lab by himself.

Quotes

 * "This is made of plastic, it makes the swinging much easier!"
 * "...That's... totally your fault... no, wait, what are we talking about again?"
 * "Kid. If you got questions, ask."

Etymology

 * The name Yusuke means "play" (遊) (yu) and "help, assist" (介) (suke).
 * Yusuke's surname Sakurai means "cherry blossom" (桜) (sakura) and "prestige, authority, power, dignity, influence, vigor, merit, stature, virtue, pride, dominance, ascendancy/ascendency, ascendance/ascendence, impression, in, domination, mastery, potence/potency, lordship, grasp, control, whip hand, might, force, vis, puissance" (威) (i).