Soichi Kuroto

"If you think you can take me down, then come at me."

- Souichi's pre-fight catchphrase

Souichi Kuroto is the older brother of Satoshi Kuroto, who helped him form the [REDACTED] group to recreate the events of SAO inside a new game. His skill in coding was necessary to help them secure the data required to pull this off, requiring that Souichi be an employee of Nexus Theory in order to do so. Thus, he temporarily used the name "Masamune Isurugi" while acting as a Nexus Theory employee. After [REDACTED], Souichi dove into EBO's sequel, Hazard ReBurst, and decided to test the person who defeated his younger brother.

Real Life/Gun Gale Online Avatar
In reality, Souichi keeps his hair unkempt and combed to the left. His devilish blue eyes accentuate his innate handsomeness, which contrast from his little brother's heterochromia. Normally, he is seen wearing business suits with green and/or red ties since he is often working with his parents, making business deals that they are unable to personally attend to. His casual wear consists of black jackets, a dark grey shirt, dark grey jeans, and black combat boots.

Much like his younger brother, Souichi played GGO to accommodate himself with VRMMOs and firearms. His avatar wears an all-black combat suit, with gunmetal-grey armor on his arms, shins, and chest; black combat boots with the same gunmetal-grey armor; and a black helmet with a pale gold visor and red and green wire designs integrated throughout the suit and mask. The armor itself is much similar to his brother's, as their entire group of 4 dived into GGO in order to train themselves with guns and give those without any experience in VR games some knowledge on the physics of the virtual environment. As such, His combat suit's gunmetal armor shares the same design as his brother's, with piston-like additions to some of his armor and some camouflage designs throughout the combat suit. He also purchased a Metamaterial optical camouflage mantle like his younger sibling, using it to appear in the middle of a firefight and confuse opponents before disappearing like a ghost.

Background
Souichi spent his time with his parents, helping them run their company with small errands here and there. Eventually, he grew to understand the world of business while learning how to program and code. When he was at home, he'd share his stories of the world with his little brother Satoshi. He'd explain to the younger sibling how cold and calculating business transactions were, how there was little to no care taken into consideration regarding the employees. Normally, one would try to right these wrongs, but Souichi and Satoshi began to develop an untrusting, cynical mindset. They began to view people as pawns, and took separate paths to learn how to manipulate people. Souichi learned from directly negotiating deals with or for his parents, while Satoshi read about the psychology of people and how to exploit them. Both practiced these manipulative techniques before the little brother ended up in trapped in SAO for 2 years; even in-game, Satoshi continued to learn how to manipulate people, putting to use his gathered knowledge on the players within SAO. In the time that Satoshi was trapped in SAO, Souichi was learning the art of business and coding. Once Satoshi returned to reality, Souichi was the first to visit him during his recovery, filling him in on the two years he missed in the real world; just like when they were little boys. During Satoshi's recovery, the two brothers concocted a plan to recreate SAO just as Satoshi described to his older sibling, taking his skill in coding to help them achieve their goals as well as the assistance of two girls who they happened to befriend at the hospital.

Gun Gale Online
He joined GGO with the other members of their hacker group to get accustomed to virtual reality. He decided he'd borrow a bit of his little brother's visual aesthetic when designing his avatar, thus creating a dark reaper who shot his opponents down without hesitation. Here in GGO, Souichi earned his epithet as the "Ruthless Reaper," perfectly describing his character with two simple words.

Hazard ReBurst
After hearing that his little brother was defeated in their EBO plan, Souichi grieved for a brief period of time. Despite not caring about anyone, Souichi and Satoshi did care about each other; after all, they were brothers, and they shared similar mentalities. Once Nexus Theory released their next game, Souichi decided to avenge Satoshi, as well as test the man who bested his brother for himself.

Personality
Much like his younger brother, Souichi is cynical and manipulative. At first glance, he appears to be a laid-back, enthusiastic individual who is very sociable and doesn't mind the company of others. Deep down, he's thinking about how to best manipulate these people to achieve his goals without the slightest concern for their feelings, goals, and/or ambitions. While Satoshi was anti-social and quiet, Souichi embraces conversation, weaving carefully-crafted lies into his words and constantly spouting out half-truths. He especially enjoys when his so-called friends fight amongst themselves thanks to his words, but very much enjoys watching them hurt each other physically and/or emotionally. His friends applaud on his amazing sense of humor whenever he cracks a joke, which is often. However, the truth about him is far worse than being a simple liar.

In reality, Souichi is cruel and ruthless, showing no regard for human life and viewing his friends as simple test subjects. When things going according to plan, of course Souichi is delighted from his plans proceeding along the scheduled route. Upon meeting a foe able to match his power, Souichi takes an interest in them and proceeds to observe their growth. All Souichi truly wants is for someone to try to stop his plans, as he has grown bored with being successful in almost all of his endeavors. While this may seem ridiculous, Souichi has had success for the majority of his life and wishes for just one major defeat to give him the motivation to live to his fullest.

Main Equipment

 * A pair of H&K Mk.23 pistols with extended magazines, underbarrel laser aiming modules, and suppressors.
 * H&K MP7 with suppressor, 40-round mag, and modified stock.
 * Grapnel Gun, custom-made
 * Combat knives
 * Metamaterial Optical Camouflage Mantle

Hazard ReBurst

 * Occupation - Game-Breaker/Mercenary
 * Main Equipment
 * TBA

Trivia

 * Souichi is a part of his little brother's hacker group, leaving the final member unknown (for now).
 * His birthday is supposed to on Friday the 13th.