Haruya Shiki

Haruya Shiki (四木 春也, Shiki Haruya) is a prominent member of underground organization Awakusu-kai. He frequently asks Celty and Shinra to do jobs as a favor to him, so much so that he is the only person outside of Shinra's immediate family who has a spare key to their apartment.

Characteristics
Although it does not initially seem like it, Shiki adheres to a strict code of honor, especially when dealing with clients. He addresses guests with the utmost respect no matter who they are or what their background is. However, he keeps an intimidating aura around him at all times as to not appear weak. He is also very perceptive, as shown when he is able to read Celty's mood through her body language, as well as being one of the first people to seriously consider Shizuo Heiwajima not being responsible for the murders that took place in volumes 5 and 6, even without Shinra's help.

Saika Arc
Shiki appears in Episode 12.5, where he is seen dealing with a group who attempted to deal against the Awakusu-kai. After being led to a warehouse by Celty, Shiki's men splashed the group in glow-in-the-dark paint, making it easier to fight them in the dark.

Shuuji Niekawa questions him about the strongest man in Ikebukuro. Shiki explains that the Awakusu-kai doesn't pick fights with civilians unless provoked, but tells the journalist off-record that an amateur he wouldn't want to deal with is Shizuo Heiwajima. He describes Shizuo as exuding cool in a way similar to watching Godzilla as a child, and that he has some admiration for his abilities. Shiki then mentions Shuuji's daughter as a subtle threat, telling him to keep what was said in the interview out of his article.

Hollywood Arc
Shiki is discussing the nature of the request given to them to capture the serial killer "Hollywood" by Jinnai Yodogiri. The mission got several members of the Awakusu-kai killed and Shiki blames Yodogiri for intentionally giving them false information. Shiki puts out a reward for Yodogiri and discovers that Hollywood is actually Ruri Hijiribe. Shiki goes to Shinra's apartment and finds the young doctor trapped in a cocoon made of Celty's shadow. He asks him about the true nature of Ruri Hijiribe and Shinra promises to tell them if they untie him.

Dollars and Blue Squares Arc
Shiki calls Celty over for another job. Shiki tells Celty to make herself comfortable and says it's okay for her to remove her helmet. When Celty does so, one of Shiki's subordinates cries out in fear. Shiki bashes the man's face against the corner of a desk and makes him apologize for being rude to an honored guest. Shiki soon gets to the point of the invite and asks Celty to do two things. The first is to keep her eyes and ears open for clues to the whereabouts of Jinnai Yodogiri although she doesn't have to do any real investigating. The second, and primary job is to locate and protect Akane Awakusu as she hasn't been home for several weeks and she might be in danger.

After Shizuo is put under suspicion for murdering members of the Awakusu, Shiki goes over to investigate. He soon receives a report that Shizuo was found but that he only ran away instead of staying to fight like they expected. They also report that Akane was seen with Shizuo the day before and that he was also spotted near Shinra's apartment. Shiki, along with several of his subordinates, go over to Shinra's and question him about what Shizuo was doing over there. Shinra tries to call Shizuo but doesn't get an answer. Shinra starts complaining and mentions Akane which causes Shiki's subordinates to surround Shinra. After explaining the situation to him, Shiki shows Shinra the photos of the deceased. While Shinra does admit that it was done with bare hands, if it was Shizuo, there'd be a bigger mess to clean up and no bodies to identify. As the conversation continues, Shinra starts to ramble on about his love for Celty which nearly puts Shiki to sleep.

Shiki begins to wonder who would benefit from killing three of their men with the Awakusu's rival, the Meidei group, being near the top. His thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of Akane and Celty. Shiki welcomes Akane warmly but the little girl is afraid, mostly due to the fact that Shiki will have to tell her parents. Shiki tells Akane that they will only be happy that she is safe but warns that she might have her cheek slapped. Shiki calls Akane's father, Mikiya Awakusu, and they meet him outside the apartment building.

As Mikiya hugs Akane, Shiki sees a flash bomb thrown by Slon and shields his eyes. The flash bomb goes off and disorients many of the Awakusu members surrounding them which gave Slon the opportunity to recapture Akane. As he assesses Slon's imposing figure, he suspects that it was Slon who actually killed those men instead of Shizuo.

After Akane is later rescued from Slon and returned home, the fighting dies down. Shiki meets with one of his colleagues, Kazamoto, and discusses the murders. It's revealed that the three who were killed were actually spies from different organizations. One from the police, one from Asuki group, and one from a foreign corporation. Mikiya reveals that he had orchestrated the murders and that he had helped frame Shizuo. Shiki hears Mikiya fuming about Slon's betrayal in the other room.

Adabashi Arc
Shiki sends Slon to the meeting at Izaya's place as a way to keep tabs on the information broker.

Dragon Zombie Arc
Shiki and Izaya are discussing another job he has. He tasks Izaya with digging up information on two groups. The first is a group called "Amphisbaena" that is running an illegal gambling parlor in the Awakusu's territory. The second is to investigate a group called "Heaven's Slave" that is selling an illegal drug, also in the Awakusu's territory. Izaya accepts the job and Shiki drops him off in front of the Rakuei Gym since Shiki is also supposed to pick up Akane from her martial arts training.

He does this to test if she recognized Izaya as one of her captors but she doesn't know his face so Shiki drives away, telling Izaya not to fail. Shiki contemplates simply killing Izaya off but reconsiders due to the possibility that Izaya may have ties to other organizations that could backfire on them later. He also wonders why Shizuo went to the room where the three spies were killed (Izaya had known about it and used that to frame Shizuo, but Shiki never found out) and also if Izaya was connected to Akane running away from home. He decides to focus on Amphisbaena and Heaven's Slave and worry about everything else later.

After Izaya turns Amphisbaena and Heaven's Slave over to his side, Shiki meets with him again. Izaya gives him very little info regarding the two groups (only accepting a fraction of the original payment as a consequence) and proceeds to leave. Before he goes, Shiki tells Izaya not to get overconfident, especially with the Awakusu.

Unbeknownst to Shiki, Izaya had founded both of those groups and knew everything about them.

Kadota's Coma Arc
Shuuji asks Shiki to look for his daughter.

Serial Kidnapping Arc
Shiki is called in by Mikiya to discuss the kidnappings that have been going on lately, due to the fact that the police suspect them. The two discuss the rumor that the Headless Rider is behind the kidnappings. Shiki tells Mikiya that it really has no head, as Dougen is already aware, and that he would introduce the two one day. Due to his growing concern for his daughter due to her interest in the headless rider, Mikiya asks Shiki to speak with it. Shiki then informs Mikiya that the Headless Rider has been on vacation for at least half a year.

The next day, in the underground parking lot of the apartment building Celty and Shinra live in, Shiki runs into Akane, who was there looking for Celty. While Shiki agrees that Celty is innocent, he insists that Akane leave the case for him and the police to deal with. Nevertheless, he ends up agreeing to let her help out as long as she stays out of danger. As she leaves, Shiki thinks about how much Akane has changed within a year and a half.

That night Shiki approaches Celty and Shinra, who had just returned from their vacation, and quickly realizes they have no idea what has been going on while they have been away. Instead of filling them in, he advises them to do an internet search for “the Headless Rider” and look at the most recent results. With that, he takes his leave with the intentions of returning the next day.

When Celty catches herself up with the case of the serial kidnappings, Shiki meets with her again and insists that she must work to clear her name if they are to continue working together. But he soon asks her if she will take on a personal request—he wishes for her to prioritize the case of the serial kidnappings not only because Akane’s senior is one of the missing persons, but also because Akane has become increasingly upset about Celty being accused. After she agrees to do so, Shiki leaves and later sends all the information he has on the case to Shinra.

Some time later, Akabayashi informs Shinra they have lost contact with Shiki, who meanwhile has been taken to a place he believes to be the basement of a villa, where he is bound to a chair. Later, Kuon is also dropped off into the basement and Shiki recognizes him as the person whose photo was on the morning news.

Half a day passes by and Shiki, one of his subordinates and Kuon remain in the basement, though they soon have a new guest—Himeka Tatsugami. It is not long before Shiki, along with Kuon and Himeka, realize the true identity of the culprit. Shiki and his subordinate were in fact the first victims of the kidnapping, and the others who had supposedly gone missing were actually obsessed Celty fanatics who had gone into hiding to create the illusion of serial kidnappings. It is not long before they approached by the true culprit; Himeka’s sister, Aya Tatsugami, who had become obsessed with the Headless Rider.

When Himeka tries to reason with her sister, Shiki tells her it is useless since she is under the influence of drugs and after Aya leaves, Shiki assures everyone that the Awakusu-kai is on the way to their location. He then tricks one of the men who was watching over them into lowering his guard before knocking him unconscious. It turns out Shiki had managed to free himself of his confines not long after he had arrived at the basement. He simply wanted to stay a while longer in order to retrieve as much information as possible. After untying his subordinate, Shiki leaves instructions for him to free Kuon and Himeka.

After meeting up with Celty, who had already arrived at the villa, Shiki’s plan is to have the Awakusu-kai deal with all of the drug-addled Celty fanatics. However, when Yahiro insists he should be the one to take care of them, Shiki eventually agrees but warns him if he hurts or kills anyone from the Awakusu-kai, he would make him pay.

Etymology

 * The name Haruya means "spring" (春) (haru) and "to be, also" (也) (ya).
 * Haruya's surname Shiki means "four" (四) (shi) and "tree, wood" (木) (ki).

Trivia

 * As stated by Takaaki Kazamoto, Shiki is one of several members of the Awakusu-kai to be a fan of Ruri Hijiribe.
 * Shiki's first name has not yet been used in the novels and was first released on the official Durarara!! website.