 Having been diagnosed with terminal cancer, he chose to take Harry's place in order to ensure that Harry would be able to keep fighting Nicodemus.In "White Night", Harry does some research on Shiro's family tree and learns that he was distantly related to Yoshimo, one of the White Council's Wardens.In addition, Shiro was a descendant of Shō Tai, the last king of what eventually became Okinawa Prefecture in Japan.