Kurosawa Hideyoshi

**Kurosawa Hideyoshi** (秀吉黒沢, *Hideyoshi Kurosawa*) or **Yoshi** (ヨッシー, *Yosshī*), as he is often called is a ghoul that has grown up undercover with his father. Since he only had the one parent, when they went missing one night, he was left without much of an anchor in the 'human' world. Since then he has been delving deeper into ghoul life on the streets. It hasn't always been an easy learning experience.

### Appearance

You won't find a more average looking dork. To the passer by, Yoshi looks just like any other young teenager. He has caramel brown hair that's medium length and somewhat wavy. At the very least, it suffers from serious cowlicks. The boy parts it to the right because that's how his father has combed it since he was a child.

Two thin eyebrows sit over chocolate brown eyes, round and youthful if not a little weary already from all that the life of a ghoul brings. A small round nose, monkey-like ears, and wispy mouth round out his face. The rest of his body is slender, and perhaps even a little frail looking.

He's short, just under five feet, and doesn't have much muscle on his bones since he has never been what you might call an active kid. Since he hasn't has had anything resembling a home in the past year or so, his clothing is usually whatever her can pilfer. Since he normally wants to stay out of sight he goes with the way over done black for the most part.

Being a hotnatured lad, Yoshi opts for shorts for leg wear and whatever tennis or athletic shoes will fit on his feet, socks are there too usually. Upper body garments vary the most. Normally it's whatever he can find, but if he's planning to go out and steal or find someone to eat, he opts for a hoody to aid in obscuring his identity, even if it his hot as hell.

### Personality

■ *Focused;* Once the kid's got his eye on a prize, it's hard to get him to look anywhere else. Not that this type of *tunnel vision* is always a good thing. What kid doesn't get so caught up anything that everything else becomes unimportant? Yoshi's always been a very goal oriented boy, just like his father. He keeps fighting to see his objectives are accomplished, especially here recently as priority number one has always been survive. If he takes something seriously he always presses all of his brain power towards it until he can figure it out well enough. Hideyoshi's always been a fairly smarty kid and the effect seems amplified if he's got a taste for something.
■ *Perceptive;* His crumby peripheral focus notwithstanding, if Yoshi is interested his hunger for knowledge can be just as fierce as his huger for flesh is sometimes. He's always been a decent problem solver because he's has been taught to try and figure out the best way to overcome what's hampering him with his own mind. A mind's a terrible thing to waste after all, and he's certainly a nerdy information sponge underneath all of his coarse presentation. Though while he's certainly intuitive for a boy his age, Yoshi is definitely not right all the time. He's just not as prone to make mistakes as he normally thinks things through in your typical situation.
■ *Loyal;* For someone who is so paranoid, getting to the point where the kid will trust you is an accomplishment. If you make the effort though, he's like to not forget the energy you spent on him. Yoshi doesn't have a lot of friends, so anyone that is friendly, or at least helpful he tends to not squander after they have proven to be reliable. He's more amiable towards these folks than he is pure strangers and will often not mouth off at them as much or with as much ferocity. Will he die for an ally? Well, that depends on just how much he likes them, but probably not on purpose.
■ *Cowardly;* Survival is close to the only thing that matters to Hideyoshi deep down. No matter how he might dress it with logical protests, internal or external, he just doesn't want to die and will do everything in his power to prevent this. If that means turning tail and running away, he will. If that means he has to abandon someone who isn't as discerning about the threat they're facing, he will. Yoshi doesn't look for exclusively easy prey if he has to rumble, mostly because at his age, there's not too many who can be considered *easy* to take on. If he thinks he's in over his head though, vacating the premises is his first priority.
■ *Mouthy;* Revealing his true nature in his speech has not worked out too famously for the boy throughout his short life. He's got an appetite for reading and possesses a large vocabulary and fantastic command for his native tongue, but he hardly ever uses it. He cruses, makes ridiculous homoerotic analogies, and talks a ton of shit about how great he is or how worthless someone or something else is. It's a defense mechanism. He has to look tough, like a serious threat, a real veteran. Unfortunately he mostly ends up fooling himself more than anyone else. At the very least however, he is normally vocally honest about how he feels about something.
■ *Paranoid;* Something he picked up from his father, also a massively paranoid person. He was convinced that everything and everything was out to get him and wreck his life. In his younger years, Yoshi's own paranoia wasn't nearly as severe. He didn't take his dad's ravings in earnest. When his dad disappeared though, it shook him. All that quiet dread that his father had confided in him turned out to mean something after all. The CCG, other ghouls, someone, something out there had gotten him just like he had said, and it would get Yoshi too. At the back of the boy's mind, he is always suspicious, always feels that that same something knows where he is and is coming for him right then. He can never get away.
### History

Born in the Thirteenth Ward to two weary parents, Hideyoshi was the one and only offspring of his family. Hideo was a chef of some minor notoriety, serving up food in high dollar establishments to the fashionistas that frequented the ward. His mother was a foreign born computer programmer who fled from America to avoid the fallout of some atrocity in the states. Given that he never got to meet her, Hideyoshi is ignorant of whatever his mother was running from, but his father always gave the matter a vague weight. As a child, he got the impression that neither of his parents had exactly planned for him. They were not even married after all, yet were living and raising a child together. It was a highly improper arrangement. The couple raised their son in a somewhat secure apartment complex shrouded in the city lights.

When Hideyoshi was two, his mother and father had a serious argument that is lost to him at his present age. Something had caught up with his mother, and she couldn't risk dragging her lover or her child into it. So she left, and never returned, at least not since then. His father seemed much more hollow after that, but still raised his son dutifully, cutting back on his work to make more time for the boy. As little Yoshi grew, Hideo instilled in the boy a great sense of gravity about the predicament of his existence, especially in relation to queries about his mother. “Where's mommy” always brought an unrelated explanation in just a few digressing sentences.

In time, the boy just came to accept that he didn't have a mother and wouldn't be getting another given Hideo's obvious lack of interest in any kind of dating scene. Perhaps it was the danger of the Thirteenth Ward, which he would often get lecture about, or maybe he was simply a loyal man. For the first of his formative years, his father provided food for his son, not making any excuses for what they were. In order to deal with this dose of harsh reality, Hideo encouraged as many artistic activities and studious pursuits as Hideyoshi could stand when he wasn't straining under the fact that he and his son were a hunted kind. The boy attended a school with other children as part of his father's ruse to play at being a normal family.

He "ate" away from other kids during lunchtime to avoid any suspicion. Because of his father's paranoid warnings about being discovered, Yoshi was naturally adverse to making many friends. He spent his time reading books and focusing on his schoolwork, even learning another language to a decent degree. His father taught him some of his methods for cooking human food to further his normality, and in an attempt to understand *something* about his unknown mother, he read over her books on computer technology and programing as well. Over time he developed a talent for tech and often spent his preteen years mischievously trolling and hacking social forums and other digital media where humans bashed on ghouls. These activities served as vents for his pitiful social life among his peers at school.

As he entered his middle school years, many of the other students he attended with saw him as a nerd because of his knowledge, talent, and good grades. Because he avoided forming any deep or lasting relations, many took this to mean that Hideyoshi thought he was too good for them and from the ages of ten onward, several groups of other children would do everything they could to make his life miserable. Often he retaliated by leaving them ex-lax laden deserts with a forged note from some crush, or hacking into their social media profiles and posting obscene statuses or pictures. His school pranks always caused his father great stress. Any attention was bad attention when it came to society, so Yoshi would often be scolded for his retaliation and this could devolve into arguments.

After one such argument between the two one eve a little over a year ago, Hideo stormed out to hunt, looking to cool off and perhaps take out some aggression on some hapless wanderer. It wasn't an occurrence that was that out of the ordinary, so the boy didn't become concerned until his father had not returned by the end of the next day. When he came home from school, his dad wasn't there to greet him. As the evening hours approached, Hideyoshi couldn't help but think over all the time his father had warned him, of all the stories of caution about the CCG or even other ghouls. When his father didn't return by midnight, he could no longer restrain his panic.

Something must have gotten him. The CCG. Another ghoul. It didn't matter. How long before they came for him? Packing a few things in his school bag, the boy slipped out of his apartment and out onto the dangerous late night streets never to be seen by society again. It was a vastly different world than the safety of the old home he had known. He would have to find food for himself now, and in order to avoid drawing too much attention, Yoshi ate as little as possible, preying on the homeless or the lone elderly he could find as he made his way further and further from his home ward, becoming more practiced with his kagune. Whenever he wasn't hunting, he was hiding. At first he hated it and often wept and brooded in whatever dark hole he happened to be taking refuge in for the day. As the months passed though, he got over it, accepted it.

While he wasn't sure where he was going he knew he had to survive. That was all that was important. In order to provide a little more comfort for himself, Yoshi tried his hand at picking pockets for cash, snatching unattended purses from restaurant tables or subway benches, and even rarely breaking into small shops and stores to make off with portable tech such as phones or laptops. These were normally used for him to keep an eye out on useful information as he traveled or attempt to fleece the bank accounts of unfortunate victims whose cards he had happened upon in their belongings. He would then sell items to any manner of shady buyer he could find. It didn't matter if he got a deal or not since he got it all for basically free. All throughout his new found life of crime, Hideyoshi always disguised himself as best he could, hoping to keep his identity undetected.

Despite his growing accumulation of money, the boy quickly discovered that at his age he couldn't open his own bank account, or get an apartment or hotel room on his own without raising suspicion. It only took one close call, a near miss with authorities for him to realize he was going to have to go underground and stay there, at least until he was old enough to pass for independent. He would have another close encounter with oblivion. In the dead of night, under an overpass, he would encounter another ghoul. Their smell tipped Hideyoshi off, but he had always managed to dodge any contact before. He carelessly assumed he could this time too. His assailant was closer and wilier than the thought however. They were another boy, a little older than he, masked as a stylized parrot.

Uneasy and afraid, Yoshi knew exactly what kind of trouble he was in when the other kid accosted him. The mask, the scent, it tipped him off immediately that he had wandered into a dangerous situation. Their bittersweet wording as they stalked calmly into attack range made it all the more apparent that they had hostile intentions towards him. The ghoul identified himself as *Pretty Bird.* The first blow wasn't a nasty one, but meant to torment Hideyoshi with pain. He quickly used his kagune to make use of the urban terrain that surrounded them and attempted to flee over the rooftops. He had never fought another ghoul before, and the prospect was daunting to him, especially since this was a serious ghoul with a mask and everything, not some petty runaway like him. His assailant was far more familiar with his home turf however, and managed to chase his prey into a corner.

With nowhere to go, Hideyoshi had no choice but to fight for his life. His confident attacker got in a couple of more purposefully glancing blows as he gloated over Yoshi's inexperience, fending off his young opponent's feeble attacks. Hideyoshi cleverly picked up on this smarmy attitude. Feigning more grievous injury and seemingly giving into despair Pretty Bird moved in for the kill. Using their overconfidence as his tormentor stood over him, Yoshi sprung into action, quickly using the extra appendages offered by his kagune to eviscerate the annoying parrot. Brought to his knees, Yoshi wasted little time in delivering the coup de grace, decapitating his attacker. Exhausted from his first real fight, and desperate to hide the evidence of his deed, the kid decided the best way to kill another bird with the same stone was to feed on the corpse.

It tasted horrible, the worst thing he had ever eaten in his short life. Try to force himself as he might, Hideyoshi couldn't consume the whole of their body, and left the remains as they were as he fled the area as quickly as possible. After he arrived in the Twentieth Ward, he happened upon a maintenance closet in a subway after carefully searching the terrain for a few days. It offered a floor sink for some manner of rudimentary bathing, a still functional power supply with a few outlets, a dim light, and a heavy door that could be locked from the inside. It was a good little hidey hole. With the addition of some pilfered tech, a coffee maker, and a cot, it became Hideyoshi's safe haven for a time.

While scavenging in the twentieth ward he encountered other ghouls and though it was tense at first, he got to know at least one well, Tadashi. He directed the young ghoul to Anteiku, a local and somewhat famous coffee shop. After introducing himself the owner the following day, he promised him shelter and food in exchange for menial labor, despite his young age. Hideyoshi worked his scheduled hours and became rather dutiful. He continued his studies via homeschooling. He was always uncertain how long he would remain under the employ of Anteiku however as he began to develop serious misgivings about Nikki, his knowledge, and his capabilities to protect his workers.

After Anteiku was raided by the CCQ, Yoshi's opinion of Nikki softened somewhat through his sacrifice. Rather than join the second attempt of what he saw as a failed experiment, the boy went back to avoiding people and living as a hermit in his old subway maintenance closet. His experiences with Anteiku did aid his self sufficiency however. Since departing he has been hunting and killing his own meals bi-monthly around the various wards of Tokyo, spreading the kills across the city in order to hide the pattern of his slayings. He has also been continuing his schooling and taking odd jobs to augment his pick pocketing.

### Capabilities

**Precise/Coordinated:** Once Yoshi is focusing on something, he can be quite accurate with his strikes, or evasive to his opponent's attacks. While he currently clumsy with his kagune, he can hold his own one on one moderately well. The effectiveness of his abilities decrease dramatically as the opposition increases.

**Agile:** While no parkour expert, the boy can be hyperactive and jumpy. He often uses his kagune to traverse terrain or manipulate his trajectory where his body fails, as he is far from what one consider ahtletic.

**Improvising Combatant:** As a desperate child, Yoshi will use anything he can to get an edge, anything he can to win. If it's something lying around on a table or the floor, he'll use it if he thinks it will aid in his survival in any way. If he can prepare something to give him a one over on the opponent, he'll throw it together. While not a Macgyver, there's no telling what he might pull out his pocket and throw at you.

* Good hand eye coordination. Very precise and focused as well as agile and dexterous.
* Possess excellent talent with computer programming.
* Often hacks and doxes information as a hobby.
* Can pick most mechanical locks if given enough time.

**Weaknesses:**
* Very little experience fighting fellow ghouls.
* Can only fight or make use of his kagune for around ten to fifteen minutes before becoming exhausted.
* Has a difficult time piercing more defensive based kagune's with his own.
* His sense of smell isn't as good as other ghouls.

### Kagune

**Type:** Rinkaku

**Appearance:** Four tentacles extend from Hideyoshi's waist in the form of thin, hardened, insectoid legs. The color of their chitin-like exterior is a gleaming crimson-black, whereas the joints between the sections of each leg are merely a brilliant red. Each can be extended to one and a half meters in length at maximum.

The top two legs end in a pair of three inch scythe-like claws, more akin to the grabbers on the end of a bug's leg than that of a crab or some other manner of crustacean. The hind tails end in pinchers that are only an inch long.

While technically tails, Hideyoshi normally uses the hind two as additional legs, increasing his short height and increasing his balance and mobility. The fore tails are primarily used to attack with, sporting the biggest set of claws. They can be arched over his shoulders or under his arms to lash out. He either uses them to cut into unarmored opponents with ease, or closes them into a point for vicious stabbing attacks.

The smaller claws on his other tails can also be used this way, but to much less effect. Yoshi normally uses these to latch into terrain to move more easily through the largely urban landscape. Bringing all four tails to bear on an opponent is only done in a desperate situation, in a frenzied flurry of blows. He can also use his relatively sturdy tails to bat away most broad attacks.

Rather than four, Yoshi can optionally manifest only two tails. These additional limbs are styled in a similar fashion of beetle legs with the same functionality. However they can be extended to a maximum of three meters. While this grants him improved reach, if an opponent gets inside of the tail's optimal range, it is somewhat clumsy to attempt to bend them in on themselves.

### Reputation

*Rumors*
**◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)**
■ "What even happened to that kid? Whatever. He was a loser anyway." – *Hayato (classmate)*
■ "He always made fun of girls. Like, he never let us have a moment of peace. There was seriously something wrong with him." -- *Ayaka (classmate)*
■ "Talked shit like you've never seen. He was so cool, all lone wolf and shit." -- *Kazan (school bully)*
**◢ Uncommon Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)**
■ "That boy... He was either quiet or rowdy. Always had decent grades, but few friends. Kids like that... it's usually trouble at home." -- *Kanto (homeroom teacher)*
■ "Aw man! One time, he changed out this girl's vag cream with toothpaste! It was *so* funny! Wonder whatever happened to him..." -- *Daisuke (classmate)*
■ "He and his father would get loud sometimes. Arguing. Sad. Outside of school or work, I hardly ever saw either of them leave their apartment too often. Real shut ins. " -- *Emiko (neighbor)*
■ "I never saw him eat lunch ever. Always snuck off. Heck, I never saw him even *bring* lunch." -- *Sango (classmate)*
**◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)**
■ "That kid... well, don't tell anyone I told you this but, he's the son of Martha Steinbeck? No? She started some serious shit in the States. World class hacker. Heard her karma caught up with her about ten years back." -- *Kenjiro (close family friend)*
■ "His dad talked about him a lot. Mixed bag. Brag on his grades. Bitch about his behavior. That guy had no discipline himself, really. They haven't been seen in a while... Hope no ghouls got them..." -- *Genmaru (father's coworker)*
■ "That child... the one that never shuts up, and his stodgy father too, both of them smell like blood! Like blood I tell you! That's not normal! I tried to talk to the CCG but they think I'm being paranoid! No evidence they say. Typical bureaucrats! " -- *Junichi (blind neighbor)*
**◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from Playable Characters, Feel Free to Add!)**
■ "He took *widdle* old me in with him annnd does all the things to take care of me too. . . Like a roof, a bed, and food! He's a mom, a really cool mom. What more could I ask?" -- *Kumagai Toichi* *(super-best friend)*
■ "Yoshi? He's a cool kid. Seems like the type to get into trouble for some stupid sorta thing, but he's smart enough to get out of it. I'm glad he's on my side, that's for sure." -- *Yukiteru Urushiyama*(Employer)
*Relationships*
 ♥ Romantic Interest    ♥ Platonic
Love    ● Good Standing    ● Neutral Standing    ● Poor Standing
● Kurosawa Hideo - "Heard he might still be alive somewhere. Why the fuck did he run off and leave me...? Also, I think he might have been an ass bandit... Don't you fucking tell anyone!"
● Martha Steinbeck - "Dad said she did what she had to. Whatever. I don't even know her. I just know she didn't want me. Fuck her. Hope she's miserable wherever she is."
● Tadashi Hisakawa - "He needs a duster and a cowboy hat, like a cowboy lobster bringing peace and justice or some shit. Reminds me of my dad, but cooler."
● Nikki Futago - "Rest in pieces I guess, big hearted dumbass."
● Sango Kisaragi - "She was cool I guess. Pity what happened to her and all. . . . What? I don't miss her or anything."
● Automne Primme - "I have no fucking clue what kind of damage she's got, but fuck is it severe."
● Andrei Fukov - "The leader of dick kisser squad."
● Chiyo Aikawa - "Gonna retire that bitch if I see her again."
♥ Sachi Raku - "Them titties though..."
● Harada Matsuo - "He's looking for my dad. . . . I think he was fucking him. I don't want to talk about it."
● Kumagai Toichi - "Annoying. Gay. Stupid. All the fine paper towels his dad coulda shot off into and still, he didn't."
● Ryuu Kageyama - "There's something about that guy that I really like. I think it's that he's not a stupid asshole like almost everyone else. Rare, I know."
● Yukiteru Urushiyama - "What can I really say about him? He pays me. So, that's cool."

### Theme Music

C.P.O. - Ballad Of A Menace

悲しい ANDROID - APARTMENT¶ X コンシャスTHOUGHTS - リスニング「９４。２０ＡＭ」in The Night's Dream Highway
### Trivia

* He liked to play pranks before he ran away from Shibuya. He still does.
* His favorite prank human food is taiyaki filled with out of date mayonnaise.
* He has moderate skill cooking human food since his father was a chef.
* His favorite human part to eat is the liver.
* Considered a "missing person" by authorities since he disappeared and makes an effort to not be seen or recognized.
* From the age of eight onward, he was in three different ward wide "gifted child" programs.
* He doesn't know how to swim or ride a bike.
* Has an interest in Entomology. Collects various bugs.
* Currently resides in a forgotten maintenance closest in a Nerima subway.
* Steals, picks pockets, and does odd jobs to survive. Hunts for himself for food.
* Dabbled in cannibalism and didn't like the taste.
* Accomplished DDR player.
* Had a brief stint playing baseball.
* His most beloved television show is Mameshiba.
* Favorite genres of music are J-Pop, New Retro Wave, Vaporwave, Happy Hardcore, Trip-hop, and 80's rock.