
Toru Higashi (1986-) was a Japanese yakuza who was affiliated with the Tojo-kai's Matsugane-gumi subsidiary during the 2010s.
Biography[]

Higashi in 2017
Toru Higashi was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1986, and he joined the Matsugane-gumi by the age of 20, with Masaharu Kaito as his aniki. Higashi was highly affable and charming, while hiding his kindness behind a tough and cool exterior. In 2017, he was present when Red Nose robbed the Matsugane-gumi's office and stole 100 million yen from Kaito at gunpoint. With Kaito's expulsion weighing on him, Higashi contacted the bent cop Kazuya Ayabe and was able to track Red Nose down to Kabukicho's sewers, where he met with captain Kyohei Hamura. When Higashi accidentally revealed himself, Hamura - his cover blown - forced Higashi to shoot Red Nose and then prove his loyalty to Hamura. Higashi retrieved the full hundred million for the Matsugane-gumi after Kaito was expelled, and he thus rose through the ranks and became the manager of the Charles arcade. While Hamura was his direct superior, Higashi made it his mission to protect patriarch Mitsugu Matsuagne in Kaito's absence.
In 2018, Hamura ordered Higashi and his men to raid tthe Yagami Detective Agency office to deter Takayuki Yagami's investigations into the AD-9 conspiracy. Higashi warned Kaito, who was working for Yagami, that the Matsugane-gumi was looking for Yagami and to avoid him if he wanted to stay out of Hamura's line of fire. Kaito then asked Yagami to follow Higashi back to Charles, where Yagami noticed Higashi give some change to a little boy who had run out of money for arcade gaming, realizing that Higashi's tough exterior was a lie. Yagami explained that he was not looking for a fight, and Hamura softened up and told Yagami that Hamura had taken near-complete control of the family, leaving him no choice but to follow Hamura's orders. He became aggravated and uncooperative when Yagami pointed out his personality shift, leading to a fight which Yagami won.
After the "Great Dissolution" in 2019, Higashi took full ownership of Charles and gave former members of the Matsugane-gumi jobs there. In 2021, he reluctantly helped Yagami with his interrogation of Yui Mamiya at Charles, and he also used his ex-Tojo connections to investigate the RK hangure gang. In 2022, he opened a new arcade in Isezakicho, Yokohama.