Yasuke Matsuda

Yasuke Matsuda (松田 夜助 Matsuda Yasuke) is one of the main characters in the Danganronpa/Zero novel series. His title is Ultimate Neurologist (超高校級の「神経学者」chō kōkō kyū no “shinkei gakusha"). He is a Neurologist whom was giving treatment to Ryoko Otonashi through the events of Zero due to her tendency to forget things caused by amnesia, who in turn is infatuated with him, and he seems to be the only person that she can remember more easily than anything else, Yasuke was also asked by Jin Kirigiri to 'extract information' out of the despair incident survivor Soshun Murasame.

Yasuke was eventually stabbed in the stomach by Junko who had finally been able to regain her memories. Afterwards, she kicks his body till it's a bloody unrecognizable mess.

He is referred to as a 'sharp-tongued brainiac' by Monokuma's memo in his profile.

Appearance
Yasuke has a tall, slender figure with a pale-like complexion. He has a small rounded thin-face, and he has messy black shoulder-length hair, he also has vague pale blue-hinted colored eyes. his attire consists of the Hope's Peak Academy uniform, however he does not wear the jacket or lab coat unless it is during his work as a Neurologist, however, mostly in his free-time he only wears a white half-tucked in top-unbuttoned white dress-shirt, which uncovers most of his upper chest along with a sloppily red-decaled black tie, he wears black sleak trousers with a tightened belt and bathroom slippers.

His tall and slim appearance almost makes him a tad alike to Byakuya Togami. whom in turn, is also slender and tall.

Personality
Yasuke is quite mean, rude and has a sharp-tongue, especially towards Ryoko Otonashi but also shows some concern towards her on account of her forgetfulness. It is shown that Yasuke can be quite evasive towards certain things, he often insults Ryoko for her clingy attitude towards him and frequently calls her a 'dung-beetle' and a 'dullard'.

It is shown he can bearly tolerate Ryoko, however at times he hints a sort of affection as reciprocations towards her feelings for him. Although during so, before she is able to notice this, he brushes it off and becomes cautious with his words. This also concludes when Ryoko worries about not having to see him again, and him responding with a mumble "Don't you worry, I'll never let this treatment end."

He is shown to also be serious, and unfond of jokes often, being protective of Ryoko especially when the jokes are regarded towards her. This is seen when he is met with Jin Kirigiri and the rest of the committee, during then one of the old men of the committee had described Ryoko as a 'dunce with no hope of recovery' and reckons that she is 'too much of a failure,' causing Yasuke to respond angrily and contemptly by berating him and telling him to 'shut the fuck up'.

During the meeting, he is shown to be able to demonstrate dominance and intimidation towards other individuals, most definitely if they were to insult Ryoko.

He has a sense of sophistication but yet doesn't demonstrate it without adding wit or rudeness to it, although he is bothered by Ryouko, he visibly does care for her.

History
When Yasuke was young, his mother experienced memory loss, not being able to recognize her son and died soon afterwards. Following her death, Yasuke became independent from his now-gone family.

Since his childhood, he has been friends with Junko Enoshima. At the time when both of them were in elementary school, in the sandpit at the park based on the Sagrada Familia Junko had been working on a sand church. However, after a month, it was destroyed by an unknown culprit. Seeing her break down in tears for almost a whole day, Yasuke decided to search for the perpetrator.

Yasuke's investigation wound up in a dead end, and had never found any witnesses. Not being able to find out anything useful discouraged him. While he was sitting on a bench in front of the remains of the sand sculpture, Junko ran up to him with a large smile and whispered to his ear to keep it a secret, telling him that she was the one who destroyed the sculpture all along. When asked for a reason, she replied that she did so by accident.

Later on after the death of Yasuke's mother, Junko became the person that Yasuke felt he could always lean on and she promised to always be there for him which began their more romantic feelings for each other. It is implied later in the story that it was actually Junko who was responsible for Yasuke's mother dying but whether this is true or was just a way for Junko to put Yasuke through more despair is unknown.

Ryoko Otonashi
The relationship between Yasuke and Ryoko are explored through the events of Danganronpa/zero, from the beginning of Ryoko's arrival into the lab, Yasuke treats her condescendingly, berates her, and often makes fun of her whenever he has a chance to, regularly on a basis labeling her the nickname 'Ugly', while Ryoko's view on him is infatuation, she holds a deep liking and crush towards him despite his sharp-tongue in direction of her, she has a clingy behavior when around him and constantly whines when he's present, he is also the only person she seems to remember clearly.

On the note of her amnesia and treatment, Yasuke is shown to be if not defensive but intensely protective of her; this is shown when one of the old men of the steering committee insult Ryoko for being a 'dunce with no hope of recovery' and reckons her to be a failure, causing Yasuke to respond in contempt, proclaiming the old man to 'Shut the fuck up', and that his 'dirty mouth talks too much'.

There are times when Yasuke is shown to warm up towards Ryoko, seen when he visibly gets angry at her for disappearing and forcing him to go out and look for her; only to find her asleep on his bed when he got back into his lab, he proceeds to leave before Yuto arrives and has a talk with Ryoko regarding the incident. When Yasuke returns, he ultimately apologizes for getting angry and attempts to be obscure with his words.

Quotes
(to Ryoko Otonashi) (to Jin Kirigiri )
 * “That girl... Even   when  people make fun of her, she swipes it off because she thinks it has ‘nothing to do with her’. That’s why I have to speak up for her. I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t.”
 * “ Shut up already, will you?”
 * “ This is probably my chance. My chance to protect her.”
 * “ You’re also too loud for someone as ugly as you. Speaking of, someone as ugly as you being scared of flying scalpels is weird too.”
 * “You  sound like a stalker.”
 * “ ...Honestly ,  your brain is like a bottomless bucket. ”
 * “Who are you going to report me to? The National Japanese Ugly People Association? That kind of organization would be guilty of discrimination just by existing. ”
 * “ I really can't leave you alone for a second, can I... ”
 * “ ...You don't often see someone possessing such a superb, brain-intensive talent as you do affected by memory loss. That's why you're such a rare case. ”
 * ...I'm sorry. ”
 * “ Still, in the future you should talk to an expert about it. But, if you can’t do that, come to me… That’s all there is to it, right?”
 * “ Clarify the truth...? Isn't that a contradiction? Didn't you decide to cover up the incident?”
 * “ ...So who is this student you want me to interrogate?”

Trivia

 * He is one of the responsible people who helped in the creation of the "New World Program" along with Chihiro Fujisaki and the Ultimate Therapist.
 * According to dialogue exchanged between him and Ryoko Otonashi, she had bugged him to watch the movie Home Alone starring Macaulay Culkin, to which Ryoko mistakenly refers to him as "Wacooly Culkin" before Yasuke corrects her and says. "It's Macaulay Culkin."