Yasuke Matsuda

Yasuke Matsuda (松田 夜助 Matsuda Yasuke) is one of the main characters in the Danganronpa/Zero novel series.

Yasuke's title is Ultimate Neurologist (超高校級の「神経学者」chō kōkō kyū no “shinkei gakusha"). He is in charge of the Hope's Peak Academy's Neurology lab. He is also one of the creators of the Neo World Program alongside Chihiro Fujisaki and Miaya Gekkogahara.

Due to his incredible skill in neurology, the school trusts him more than the other students and often asks his help when they need to extract or hide information, as he knows how to affect human brain. After The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, he was asked to extract information out of the survivor, Soshun Murasame.

Yasuke is Junko Enoshima's childhood friend and lover, but in the end he is murdered by Junko in a fit of despair.

Appearance
Yasuke is tall and slender in appearance, with that his face usually wears a 'signature' apathetic gaze. His face is also described as unhealthy-looking, supposedly because of stress. He has long-shoulder length messy black hair, which is mentioned to be silky and soft. His eyes are pale blue and he has long feminine eyelashes. He is also mentioned to have a somewhat pale skin, long fingers and thin, small lips.

Yasuke's attire consists of a half-tucked in dirty white dress shirt and a sloppily worn black tie that is adorned with red decals. His lower-half consists of black trousers, a belt, and bathroom slippers.

Personality
Yasuke is referred to as a 'sharp-tongued brainiac' by Monokuma's memo in his profile. He is notably sarcastic and witty. He has a short temper, and when he loses it, he can be mean and angry to pretty much anyone.

He is quite mean, rude, and sharp-tongued. This can be seen especially towards Ryoko Otonashi, as he constantly calls her ugly and is annoyed by her. However, in spite of this, he shows some concern towards her on account of her forgetfulness. He considers himself the only one allowed to make fun of her and he feels that he needs to speak up for her. According to Ryoko, he may be cold and blunt, but he doesn't treat her with fake sympathy.

He seems to dislike showing his feelings to other people, as he hates to cry in front of others and constantly claims he doesn't like Junko/Ryoko, while in reality he does and he can sometimes even be gentle and caring.

Yasuke is noted to be overly defendant of Junko, or rather -- her fabricated personality, Ryoko. This is made evident by several situations that concern her, such as him working to keep her in the academy despite her failing grades. While Yasuke appears to dislike killing and harming other people, as well as noted to hate gore, he is willing to do bad things for the sake of Junko, even if it causes him to suffer horrible guilt.

According to Yuto Kamishiro, Yasuke's neuroticism is very well known among his classmates in the 77th class. He also appears anxious at times.

Past
In Yasuke's childhood, his mother was diagnosed with an unnamed disease that appeared to have symptoms similar to Alzheimer's disease— causing her to forget who her own son was. His mother's doctors also forbade Yasuke from addressing her as 'mom', or 'mother'. It's also mentioned that his mother was his only family.

Her condition eventually led to her unfortunate death, and possibly, Yasuke's rather ambivalent and aloof personality. Although he claimed that her death made him feel "free", it is heavily implied that he continued to harbor a large amount of guilt and grief over her demise. Her death may also be responsible for his profession in the field of neurology, due to the bitterness felt on his behalf towards her doctors, who could have done 'better' in his eyes.

Yasuke has also been friends with Junko since childhood and both of them didn't have any other friends. During the time when both of them were in elementary school, Junko began working on a sand sculpture based on the Sagrada Familia church. However, a month later, it was destroyed by an unknown culprit. After seeing her break down in tears and weep for almost a whole day, Yasuke decided to go and search for the perpetrator. Yasuke's investigation eventually wound up to a dead-end, as he 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 in his ear that she was the culprit who destroyed the sculpture all along, asking him to keep it a secret. When asked for a reason, she replied that she did so by accident. Truthfully, she had done this to get Yasuke out of his house, upset that his mother's condition had led him to become more withdrawn than usual.

In the years following the death of Yasuke's mother, Junko became the person that Yasuke felt he could always lean on. She promised to always be there for him, which helped develop his stronger feelings towards her. She said she'll never forget Yasuke even if she forgets everything else, and they'll always be together. For the first time in his life, Yasuke cried in front of another person, after making her promise she won't make fun of him, won't tell anyone and won't try to console him.

Both of them later enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy. Due to his skills in neurology, Yasuke became the Ultimate Neurologist of the Class 77, while Junko was a member of the class 78. He is in charge of the Neurology lab on the third floor of the Biology building in Hope’s Peak Academy’s eastern quarter.

Episode 08 - The Worst Possible Reunion By Chance
Soon after The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, Yasuke is seen watching the reserve course students' riot from a window.

The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy
After the Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, Yasuke was the only student the facility trusted with the secret of their cover-up, as they needed his neurology skills for extracting and covering information from people. In exchange for his cooperation, he was awarded a large research grant and equipment for his lab.

Due to his incredible skill in neurology, Yasuke was requested by the school to assist in interrogating Junko about the incident. However, in reality he was on Junko's side and reluctantly helped her. Junko had her memories wiped out for the purpose of testing the memory-deletion procedure meant to host Class 78's Mutual Killing Game, as well as to hide from suspicion. She assumed the false identity of Ryoko Otonashi and became Yasuke's research subject. In good intention, Yasuke attempted to foil her plans by planting fake information in her notebook while she was in her false persona.

Chapter 3
A month after the Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, Ryoko once again goes to see Yasuke for her treatment.

Yasuke throws a scalpel towards Ryoko and repeatedly insults her by calling her ugly. He then asks her who she is, claiming that he doesn’t know because he keeps looking at his manga. Ryoko answers the questions and Yasuke is surprised to find out that she remembers what just happened and what they talked, meaning that her condition might be better or maybe worse.

Yasuke gives Ryoko her treatment. Ryoko is shocked when she is reminded that she was almost suspended from school due to her bad grades, especially because it would mean she would be apart from Yasuke. Yasuke tells her he defended her, because she is too valuable research subject to lose. They talk more about Ryoko’s condition. Ryoko claims she isn’t worried about it, and that she’s more worried about being cured, because she wouldn’t get to see Yasuke anymore. Darkly, Yasuke tells her she won’t let her treatment end.

As they hear noise outside, Yasuke explains to Ryoko about the reserve course students. He leaves to see the Steering Committee, while Ryoko sleeps in the lab.

Chapter 4
Jin Kirigiri and the Steering Committee greet Yasuke. The Steering Committee asks Yasuke to extract information from Soshun Murasame, the second survivor of the school's Tragedy who is currently in coma. Yasuke is angered when the Steering Committee talks about Ryoko in an insulting manner, but Jin calms down the situation and they come in an agreement.

Chapter 5
Yasuke returns to the lab and wakes Ryoko up roughly. He throws her out and tells her to come back in three days.

Chapter 12
On the dawn, Yasuke learns that Ryoko has went missing. He looks all over for her, only to find her sleeping on his lab's bed. He ties her to the bed, to make sure she won't wander off again and she can reflect on what she did. When Ryoko refers to herself as his lover, Yasuke tells her he wouldn't have such a vermin as a girlfriend.

Angry, Yasuke lies under the bed, but he then turns silent. He sighs and says that Ryoko has always been that way and she knows the perfect ways to irritate him, referring to Junko. He tells her how in their childhood she destroyed her own sand-castle, and after hearing the frustrating story, Ryoko agrees she should be tied up. She is angry that she can't write the story on her notebook, though, but finds out it's next to her pillow. As she struggles to open it, she reads the sentence "It seems Junko Enoshima killed him —" and mention of a dead body at the central plaza. Ryoko panics about the dead body, but Yasuke doesn't seem to care about it and instead asks her if she knows who Junko Enoshima is, which confuses her. Ryoko tries to ask him if Junko is his friend, but Yasuke avoids the question and tells her that there is no body.

Ryoko can no longer reach the notebook and Yasuke tells her that Junko has nothing to do with them and she should forget about it, and that all of it was probably just stories she made up. Ryoko says she would never do that, because it would confuse her true memories, but Yasuke claims she must be very lonely due to her memory loss and she creates delusional stories for that reason. Frustrated about how badly she is misunderstood, Ryoko screams loudly that she is never lonely as long as she has Yasuke. She asks how he can forget that if she can remember it despite her forgetfulness. Yasuke wants to end the conversation and assures her that the notebook lies and she can believe in him instead.

Ryoko is conflicted, as the notebook and Yasuke are two the most important things to her. She decides to believe in Yasuke instead of in herself, and tells him that she will give away her memories if he always stays by her side. Yasuke stays quiet for a while and answers it's impossible right now, because he has other things to do. Ryoko says that his research is most important to him and he will never choose her. Yasuke says it's not it, but turns silent again. Ryoko begins to cry and asks him to at least cure her or make her forget him along with everything else, so she wouldn't feel so painful. Yasuke stands up quietly and wipes her face gently with a tissue while looking at her with lonely eyes. For some reason, Ryoko feels fear.

Silently, Yasuke turns to leave and tells her he has an appointment with another student, and that they can continue talking after he returns. After he returns, Ryoko hugs him happily as she doesn't remember their previous conversation anymore. Nevertheless, Yasuke bashfully tells her that he's sorry and unusually lets her hug him. Then, he asks how she's untied, but she can't remember anymore. As she continues to cling on Yasuke, he whispers that the reserve course students' Parade is growing louder outside. Reluctantly, Ryoko leaves back to her room.

Chapter 2
At the east compound of the school, the school's doctor guides Yasuke to see Soshun Murasame. Yasuke asks to go alone and sees the other boy in a comatose-like state, unresponsive to his questions.

Chapter 4
Yasuke keeps talking to Soshun and the other boy is revealed to be conscious, though nevertheless largely unresponsive. When Yasuke asks about Izuru Kamukura, Soshun claims he killed the student council. When he asks about Junko Enoshima, Soshun's behavior changes completely. Yasuke watches "Soshun Murasame" stop existing in front of him, as he appears to turn completely mad, wildly screaming about Junko Enoshima and killing her.

Yasuke realizes he must protect Junko no matter the cost, even if it would cause him guilt and grudge against himself. To protect Junko and stop information about her involvement in the incident spreading, Yasuke decides to kill Soshun and strangles to death the other boy who appears defenseless and unaware of what is happening.

Chapter 6
Sweating and anxious from the murder he committed, Yasuke tries to go see Ryoko, but she isn't in her room. He then goes to his lab and finds it has been a victim of vandalism. He sees a girl hiding under the bed, but it turns out to be Junko. They talk and Junko asks him what he is going to do now, claiming that she isn't doing anything and not seeming to be worried about the outcome. She ends the conversation with a kiss, but Yasuke turns numb and immobile as a result. Junko explains her lipstick was tainted with poison, but she also says it isn't life-threatening. Before leaving, she tells Yasuke that only he can make the choice concerning their situation.

Chapters 14-15
Unfortunately, Yasuke's plan backfires and he ends up being stabbed by Junko in a fit of despair after the latter figured out who she truly was. In the end, it was Yasuke's attempt of saving the students and Junko (from herself) which ultimately led to his murder. He was stabbed in the side by Junko and afterwards, she kicked his body until it was a bloody unrecognizable mess.

Before Yasuke's death, Junko bluffed that it was her who was responsible for the death of his mother, however it's unknown if she was actually responsible or just said this to pit Yasuke further into despair during his final moments.

Execution
Black White - A tied-up Yasuke is transported into a dark hospital. He ends up in the operating room and a group of Monokuma doctors surround him. The red light of the operating room lights up. From the outside, silhouettes of something drill-like can be seen. Almost immediately, the operating room explodes. The explosion is big enough to destroy the entire hospital. Inside the wreckage, a few pieces of paper were found. On them are hand drawn pictures that look like a Monokuma doctor, with a warning that states that he is a fake doctor, as it appears Yasuke died in the explosion. This execution is only shown in the Official Fanbook.

Ryoko Otonashi
The relationship between Yasuke and Ryoko are explored through the events of Danganronpa/Zero. From the beginning, when Ryoko's arrives into his lab, Yasuke treats her condescendingly, berates her, and often makes fun of her whenever he has a chance to, labeling her with the nickname 'Ugly'. On the other hand, Ryoko is infatuated with him, and holds a deep liking towards him despite his sharp tongue. She acts clingy when she is around him and constantly whines when he's present. He is also the only person that she seems to remember clearly.

On the note of her amnesia and treatment, Yasuke is shown to be, if not defensive of Ryoko, intensely protective of her. This is shown when one of the old men of the Steering Committee insults Ryoko for being a 'dunce with no hope of recovery' and reckons her to be a failure. This causes 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, such as when he visibly gets angry at her for disappearing and forcing himself 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 Kamishiro 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.

During his untimely end, Yasuke is revealed to have been protecting Junko's alternate identity, Ryoko from herself by planting fake information inside of her notebook. However, this failed miserably when she fell into a fit of despair and had killed him after realizing who she truly was. The motive for her murder was simply the desire to drive herself further into despair by killing one of the two people she loved the most: Yasuke and Mukuro Ikusaba, whom Junko later kills during the killing game of Class 78.

Miaya Gekkogahara and Chihiro Fujisaki
Fellow collaborators in creation of the Neo World Program.

Quotes

 * “This is probably my chance. My chance to protect her.” (to Ryoko Otonashi)
 * “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.”
 * “...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.”
 * “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?” (to Jin Kirigiri )
 * “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

 * "Yasuke" (夜助) is composed of 夜 - "evening" or "night" and 助 - meaning "help" or "rescue" which most likely refers to the fact that he attempted to save Junko Enoshima from falling into despair and attempted to prevent the Mutual Killing Game of Class 78.
 * "Matsuda" (松田) means "rice field of pine".
 * According to dialogue between the two, Ryoko had bugged Yasuke to watch the movie Home Alone starring Macaulay Culkin for some time, yet always mistakenly referred to him as "Wacooly Culkin".
 * Despite studying the human brain, Yasuke mentions that he hates gore.
 * Yasuke likes manga magazines.