Kaito Akihiko

History
Kaito Akihiko was born on March 22, 1999 in the town of Karuizawa, Japan. From the very beginning, his father, Yuujiro Akihiko, only wished for Kaito to do well in his studies so that he would have the tools that he needed to succeed in life. This came at the expense of him having friends throughout elementary and middle school. In addition, Kaito was often seen as a bookworm by his peers; however, he was never really made fun of for it. Instead, he was often ignored and never included in much of anything.

Kaito would later become depressed to the point where his mother, Akane Akihiko, pleaded with Yuujiro to be more lenient on him. Yuujiro began to realize what he was doing to his son and granted him the freedom to do what he wanted. Kaito then used this opportunity to change his looks and attitude heading into high school. There, those who knew him couldn't believe he was the same person. Kaito began to make friends; however, those he befriended couldn't forget the kind of person Kaito used to be and decided to only treat him as an extra whenever they needed someone else to be around them. This filled Kaito with a sense of false acceptance which pushed him into joining his high school's drama club.

During the drama club, he met a girl named Meiko Sawamura. Meiko and Kaito became friends and, eventually, Meiko became the object of Kaito's love interests. Despite his feelings, the closer Kaito got to Meiko, the more she began to push him away. After finding out information about Meiko that she didn't want anyone to know, Kaito confronted her and made a promise to show her that not all men were like her father, who used to rape her as a child. Meiko slowly began to trust Kaito and agreed to become his girlfriend. The two dated and built up a relationship that all came to a halt when Yuujiro was offered a business opportunity in America. He accepted which meant Kaito had to break the news to Meiko about his move. When he did, Meiko had a mental breakdown and accused Kaito of only using her. She also claimed that he knew about the move all along and stated she wanted nothing to do with him ever again. Heartbroken, Kaito went to turn to his friends for comfort but once they realized that Kaito was moving away, they stopped bothering with him altogether as they no longer needed him as an extra anymore.

The consecutive loss of his girlfriend and his friends caused Kaito to develop trust issues. After his move to America, Kaito had no interest in making new friends and turned to video games. Kaito became good at fighting games and first-person shooters. He saw that there was a local gaming convention in town and decided to entertain himself by going to it. While there, he runs into another Japanese boy by the name of Takumi Karume. Takumi had also just recently moved to America and thought that maybe he could make a friend in Kaito; however, Kaito wasn't interest. Even though Kaito tried to be as cold as he could be, Takumi kept after him until Kaito eventually caved. What sealed it was when Takumi revealed to Kaito that he moved to Ameirca because he was diagnosed with ALS and was terminal. He came here to receive better care for the disease and his only wish was to not suffer through it alone.

Even though Kaito accepted Takumi's friendship, he only did so to see if he could still feel any sort of emotions if the day should come where Takumi died. However, Takumi began to grow on Kaito and the two of them ended up becoming best friends. Kaito considered Takumi his sun and the only attachment he had to a world that rejected him. Takumi, in turn, introduced Kaito to a game called Blaze Auras and even mentored him. Wanting to prove that Takumi was a good teacher, he made a vow that he would aim for the top and take the #1 spot on the leaderboards. Once he made that vow, he noticed that the top player of the game was a person named Dragonfly. Therefore, Kaito set his sights on 'him' without realizing that Dragonfly was Amber Ryann.

Kaito would frequent a retail store by the name of Things N' Such in order to purchase Blaze Auras-related goods and/or copies of the game and its expansion packs. By the time the first expansion pack, The Underhollow, was released, Amber Ryann had already begun working there. Kaito was perplexed by her odd behavior and even nicknamed her 'Glow Worm' due to her wild hair colors. Over time, Kaito considered Sebastian as a friend but still had no idea that Amber was the person he was aiming to beat. Kaito would spend his days climbing the ranked ladder in the game until he eventually ended up in a match with Dragonfly. After besting Amber over and over, he began to rub salt into the wound by being very cold and calloused towards her. Eventually, he saw that there was a chance that their paths could cross once again when the second-annual Legacy of Champions tournament was announced. Kaito quickly signed up for the tournament with the goal of beating Dragonfly and proving just how good he became at the game thanks to Takumi.

Dragonfly and Khaine met in the finals of the tournament and Kaito ended up besting Dragonfly, winning the tournament. After the match, he wanted to see who Dragonfly was and went over to offer his hand in sportsmanship. That's when he discovered that Dragonfly was Amber Ryann... the 'Glow Worm' he had met at Things N' Stuff. Before he could even say anything, Amber ran away and ended up vomiting in a dumpster behind the arena thanks to her crippling social anxiety. After he witnessed that, he was greeted by Triggabyte's handler, Lynn Aichner, who had ran into Amber earlier in the day. Lynn explained to Kaito about how she felt that the girl suffers from anxiety and that she probably just needs some friends. After learning of this, Kaito began to feel remorseful for all of the things he had said to Amber online without knowing who was behind the keyboard.

Kaito tried to apologize but his online persona keep leaking out and he ended up making a bigger mess of the situation. This continued until the BlazeCON Invitational Tournament was announced during the BlazeCON convention. There, Things N' Stuff was still severe peril of being lost thanks to the efforts of Sebastian's father, Jeremiah Carmichael. Amber, Kaito, Takumi, and Lynn banded together with the goal of winning the tournament in order to secure the prize money and use it to buy the store back from Jeremiah. Kaito ended up getting eliminated in the first round by Kaiza Shirazou. When he saw that Amber was in a position to face Kaiza, Kaito swallowed his pride and offered Amber tips on how to defeat him. He also showed his friendship by helping her quell her anxiety. The combination of Kaito's advice and friendship caused Amber to beat Kaiza and advance to the finals where she would face Takumi's Versaithe character in a rematch from the first-ever Legacy of Champions Tournament.

After BlazeCON, Kaito extended his hand in friendship to Amber but Amber wanted to know for sure if she could ever truly beat him in a one-on-one match. Kaito and Amber agreed to go at it one more time where Amber defeated Kaito legitimately for the very first time. After her victory, the two of them buried the hatchet and became friends. That friendship would be tested when Kaiza Shirazou wanted revenge on Amber for eliminating him from the tournament. After stalking her and using both mental and physical threats, Kaiza made his move by announcing that he was going to put an end to Amber's life. Kaito acted quickly and got Amber out of her apartment, thinking Kaiza would be targeting her there. When the two arrived at Things N' Stuff, Kaiza was already there holding Jessi Hammons hostage. As soon as Kaiza saw Amber, he lunged for her but Kaito pushed Amber out of the way and ended up getting stabbed by Kaiza.

After multiple surgeries, Kaito spent eight weeks in the hospital recovering. The entire time, Amber was there at his bedside. After awakening, Kaito was incredibly moved by Amber's willingness to stay by his side and was even taken aback over her level of concern for him. It was at that moment that Kaito had fallen in love with Amber and wanted something more than a friendship with her. After his release from the hospital, Kaito opened up to Amber and told him everything about his past. Kaito soon discovered that he and Amber ware very similar and that caused Kaito to fall in love with her even more so than he already had.

After returning from a business trip, Yuujiro announced he was heading back out there shortly. Kaito got the spontaneous idea to go with him and bring Amber along for the ride. His father was able to secure plane tickets so Kaito asked Amber if she wanted to go. After some reluctance, she agreed. Kaito bought Amber a couple's pendant and brought it with him on the trip where he used it to ask Amber to be his girlfriend. Amber said yes.

Back home, news spread of their relationship which caused jealousy within Sebastian. Sebastian began to even ignore Kaito which caused him to have a relapse from when all of his friends abandoned him in Japan. Not wanting to go through it again, Kaito confronted Sebastian and ended up in a fist fight with him. Once the fight was over, the two of them made amends. Things wouldn't stay that way forever as shortly after Takumi's ALS advanced to an unrecoverable state and he ended up passing away. Kaito had a severe mental breakdown after Takumi passed and even went so far as to move out of his parent's apartment without telling anywhere where he was going, including Amber. Kaito wrote Amber a letter stating that it would be in her best interest to forget all about him.

Kaito ends up living alone in an apartment where he meets Rebekah Gallagher, his next-door neighbor. Rebekah is into the occult and takes a keen interest in Kaito, feeling that he is mysterious and she finds that interesting. Rebekah even hides Kaito when his father comes around to check on him. Eventually, Amber learns of Takumi's death and puts everything together. She tracks Kaito down where he breaks down once again and apologizes for everything. Amber realizes that Kaito cannot be left alone and invites him to live with her to which Kaito agrees.

After moving in with Amber, Kaito ends up becoming a sponsored streamer for Blaze Auras alongside Amber. The two of them see success to the point where they decide to treat themselves to a vacation; however, this vacation is more than just rest and relaxation. Kaito wants to go back home to Karuizawa, Japan in order to confront his past and defeat his trust issues once and for all. Amber agrees to go along with him on the promise that they at least go to Akihabara once. Once in Japan, Kaito visits his hometown and runs into Meiko where the two of them make amends; however, Kaito would never make any effort to contact her once they headed back home to America. Before leaving Japan, Amber and Kaito end up having sex and that's the night where Amber becomes pregnant.

When they return, Amber develops flu-like symptoms which turn out to be signs of early pregnancy. Lynn ends up putting two and two together and gives Amber a note that says "Congratulations, Mom." This causes Amber to go and confirm things for herself. Once she confirms that she is pregnant, she tells Kaito who is overjoyed to learn that he's going to become a father. Kaito ends up using his father's engagement ring to propose to Amber to which she accepts.

After Blaze Auras goes under, Kaito and Amber find success in streaming a new game called Sanctuary: Rise of Heroes. Together, they form a guild with Sebastian Carmichael, Jessi Hammons, Rebekah Gallagher, and Riley Elmore. 10 Years after these events, the guild has disbanded. Kaito is now the father of two children: Riku Akihiko and Anna Akihiko. After he invested their money into Onyx Technology Ventures, a company that his parents, Yuujiro and Akane, were recruited to by its owner Ryunosuke Saigo, there was no need for either of them to work. However, Kaito would become bored so he became a freelance graphic designer.

Appearance
Kaito wears black jeans with a light purple belt. Affixed to two of his belt loops is a small silver chain that hangs down over his left pocket. Kaito wears a black dress shirt that is unbuttoned, exposing a white t-shirt underneath. Kaito has amber-colored eyes as well as pure black hair. Later on in the series, Kaito discovers that Amber's natural hair color is white and in a display of trust and friendship to Amber, Kaito chooses to dye half of his hair white.

Personality
In the beginning, Kaito was very cold towards anyone who would try and befriend him. This would change once he met Takumi Karume and, later, Amber Ryann. Slowly, he began to put his trust in others which led to him becoming friends with Sebastian and Lynn. Kaito ended up as the brains of their group. He would be the go-to person that everyone would turn to for answers. Thanks to Kaito's studying habits as a child, he knew that he was the one that everyone relied on. Despite his dependency, Kaito would sometimes jump to a conclusion without weighing the consequences of his decisions, making him seem rather dumb at times. This brought about a duality to his personality balancing out intelligence and ignorance. A yin/yang effect accentuated later on in the series by his black and white hair colors.