Shuuji Niekawa

Shuuji Niekawa (贄川 周二, Niekawa Shūji) is a reporter who writes for a tabloid called Tokyo Disaster. It features weird events or noteworthy societies in Tokyo. Because of a planned special, he is currently fixated on discovering the strongest person on the streets of Ikebukuro.

He is the father of Haruna Niekawa, who believes herself to be the possessor of the original Saika. She stabs her father outside of their home, making him a member of the Saika Army.

Background
Prior to the start of the series, Shuuji's wife left him, and he and his daughter grew apart. He hopes that writing a great article will help restore their relationship.

Saika Arc
Shuuji questions people around the city about the strongest man in Ikebukuro. After interviewing a number of sources, including Haruya Shiki and Izaya Orihara, he gets the name of Shizuo Heiwajima. Niekawa visits Shizuo and makes the mistake of mentioning Shizuo's brother Kasuka. Furious, Shizuo throws Shuuji through the air. On his way home, he is stabbed outside of his house by his daughter and becomes a member of the Saika Army. When he recovers, Haruna has him attack Anri Sonohara. He is stopped by the gang, Celty Sturluson, and Shizuo. Although he takes damage from both Saburo Togusa and Shizuo that would otherwise kill a person, he recovers and has no memory of what happened to him after being stabbed.

Kadota's Coma Arc
Niekawa looks for his runaway daughter, first approaching Maju Kuzuhara, a policewoman, and later Shiki of the Awakusu-kai. Shiki refers him to Mizuki Akabayashi, who brings him to Mikado and the Blue Squares. When he later looks into Haruna's laptop, he discovers that Haruna is involved with the Dollars. He is revealed to be under the control of Takashi, who uses him to kidnap his daughter.

Final Curtain Arc
He is present with the other Saika children under Takashi's control when they attempt to raid the Russian Sushi restaurant, but like everyone else he is restrained by Celty's shadows. He later awakens to a message from his daughter, who informs him she is alright and that she is with the person she loves.

Etymology

 * The name Shuuji means "circumference, lap, surroundings, circuit, vicinity" (周) (shuu) and "two" (二) (ji).
 * Shuuji's surname Niekawa means "offering, sacrifice" (贄) (nie) and "river, stream" (川) (kawa).

Trivia

 * The tabloid Shuuji writes for is titled Tokyo Disaster in the second light novel and Tokyo Warrior in the anime.
 * In Wednesdays Smiling with Otsuberu, another work by Ryohgo Narita, Shuuji meets with a former co-worker of his - Rui Otonobe - and reveals he has recently gone freelance.