Mashira

Mashira (ましら) is an umbrella name for a trio of secondary antagonists in Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 5. Their individual names are Seki, Ryoku, and Kou (セキ・リョク・コウ). The trio always work in unison and are never seen apart. Kazahanaki reprises their role for a single character route.

Role in Games
The Mashira are spirits of the three wise monkey statues at Nikko Toshogu Shrine. When Amami regains his god powers, he brings the monkeys to life with human forms. They enjoy their second chance at life to cause mischief for Yuki's party.

In the first timeline, the Mashira stand guard at Nikko Toshogu Shrine and block Yuki and company's entry. After they are defeated, they command the undead squadron at Choushu to interrupt peace talks and terrorize the capital; they directly cause Chinami's desertion and Ryouma's death. They return to the shrine to be Amami's guards and retreat when they are defeated. During Ryouma's personal route, they are the ones who awakened the poisonous vengeful spirit to kill the guardian. The monkeys were not ordered to harm Yuki yet they do nothing to correct their error when she is poisoned. They figure her death will come soon enough.

Their acts are foiled by Yuki in the repeated timelines. When they guard the entrance of Nikko Toshogu Shrine in the final chapters, they are killed by Yuki's party. Only Yuki takes a minute to mourn for them. Miyako takes care of them by herself in her own story route.

Yuki and company erased the majority of her previous adventure yet Amami continues to raise the Mashira in Kazahanaki. They only appear during Takasugi's personal route. Their master hasn't given them any orders so they decide to amuse themselves by ordering an undead battalion to attack the Edo suburbs. They trap a battered Yuki within a flaming building and taunt her to plead for their help.

The player can have her be defiant or choose to go with them. If she gives them sass, they will leave her to keep continuing Takasugi's route. Accepting their offer is a bad ending, but the monkeys will stay true to their word and teleport her away from danger. In exchange, she must be their slave and puppet until the day she or the worlds dies. They keep her neck bound and drag her to where ever they desire.

Personality
The monkeys are cruel and merciless to their prey. Born without morality or compassion, they mock whatever and whenever it amuses them. When not on orders, they are free-spirited and come and go as they please. Their loyalty to Amami is mostly due to fear; even the monkeys would not dare betray the vengeful god nor would they risk incurring his wrath.

Seki is the insightful one. He seeks to analyze his human capabilities for his own convenience. He is the one to speak against Ryoku's pigheadedness. Appalled by people's reliance on sight, he chose to bind his eyes to see only what he wants.

Ryoku is the upbeat and crude one. He tends to act as the spokesman for the trio, bickering with his comrades when they voice an opposing opinion. He frequently loses to his short temper. Since he feels humans always speak their minds, he should answer with the same rudeness.

Kou is the silent one. The most collect of the trio, Kou is also the scariest and most ruthless when he is angered. Seki is the only one who can understand him, voicing his thoughts aloud for others to hear.

Character Symbolism
Mashira is an archaic pronunciation for a singular monkey. The three wise monkeys are real and are better known as the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys overseas. While it's popularly assumed that the idea originated from Japan, the three monkeys have been seen together in Ancient Egypt, India, and China prior to their earliest mentions in Japan. It's very likely that the idea was brought to Japan since they are mentioned within Kōshin texts and reliefs. The monkey statues at Nikko Toshogu Shrine were made popular by overseas visitors, thus leading to its mistaken prominence as a native Japanese concept.

Their symbolic color is mustard. A common presumption with the plant is that they are all poisonous in their organic state.

Quotes

 * "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."
 * "Our vision broadens without sight; our echoes resound without hearing; our words can be heard though we do not speak them. We will teach you to understand our ways, Priestess."
 * "Lord Amami ordered us to never harm the Priestess. But he also ordered us not to let a single soul pass this gate. Looks like we got ourselves an impasse."
 * "Hey, don't get upset at me! Get angry at them! They're the ones messing everything up!"
 * "Yeah, keep screaming in agony. It's music to our ears."

Fighting Style
The monkeys have a hard-hitting group attack if they are together, so low leveled parties should take one of them down as soon as possible. Once one falls, the other two will be easier to defeat. If they are too agile for the current party to hit, use Chinami or Miyako for better accuracy.