Issei Hyoudou (Darker Than Black)

"Contractors are liars, betrayers, and killers...and I, no less."

- Issei Hyoudou, Life 0: BK201 Issei Hyoudou, also known as by dossier code BK201, is the protagonist of the story, "Darker Than Black."

He is a second-year student at Kuoh Academy, and a member of the school's infamous "Perverted Trio," a group of perverted boys in the school.

Issei is a Contractor, a human with supernatural abilities. He commands the power of electricity, able to shock and kill any opponent he touches. As a Contractor, he needs to fulfill a payment when he uses his powers, which is reading an adult magazine. To the Public Security Bureau, he is known by his dossier code BK201, and is also known by his moniker, "The Black Reaper," a Contractor shrouded in death and mystery. He is rated as a Rank 0 Threat to Public Security, and an SS-Class Threat to the Khaos Brigade. In addition, he is the wielder of the Longinus-class Sacred Gear, Boosted Gear, thus making him a terrifying opponent.

He is also member of the organization, "Gate Royale," a group composed of Contractors and humans. He is also the leader of Team Black Moonlight, partnered with Matsuda, Motohama, and Mao, three fellow Contractors, and a Doll by the name of Yin.

Appearance
Issei is a 17-year-old teen with short brown hair and light brown eyes. He is of average height, but sports a well-toned build.

He is commonly found in his Kuoh Academy uniform, albeit slightly altered. The jacket is open to reveal a red t-shirt underneath his white dress-jacket and blazer, and wears blue and white sneakers. His field attire consists of a black leather jacket with a green interior, a black muscle shirt with a leather harness, a belt with a thin metal wire, a holster for his knife, and black pants and shoes. He also wears a white Pierrot-inspired mask with a smiling red mouth and black eyes, with a purple thunderbolt running over the right eye.

Personality
Issei is first shown to be ignorant, self-centered, arrogant, and his ongoing perverted nature, often to make lecherous fantasies, and utterly obsessed with women's breasts and having his own harem. This has caused him to be instantly labeled as a pervert among the girls of Kuoh Academy and has gained him notoriety for being one of the members of Kuoh Academy's Perverted Trio.

In reality, however, this is merely a facade. In truth, Issei, like any Contractor, does not have any emotions, having been stripped of them with the appearance of Hell's Gate, and instead acts on what he perceives to be rational. However, unlike most, he can sometimes display feelings of anger, notably when he and his team are trying to extract information from Raynare about the "package (i.e. Asia Argento)." After learning that a Virtue named Dohnaseek is leading them, Issei decides to end her life, but is spiteful, remarking that looking at her makes him want to puke.

Another unique trait is Issei's loyal nature to his comrades. Regardless of the mission, or what he perceives to be the rational decision, Issei is willing to abandon the task at hand in order to save the lives of his comrades. Havoc herself has also noticed this odd trait, and asks whether or not Issei truly is a Contractor, despite the fact that he has a payment for his abilities.

History
Initially, Issei's parents had a great deal of trouble conceiving a child, failing twice. So when Issei's mother got pregnant for a third time his father had paced back and forth in front of shinto shrine honestly wishing that this time they would succeed. When the child was finally born he was named Issei, meaning "Honestly," for his father's honest prayers.

He is a childhood friend of Irina Shidou and they would always play together before she moved to England, although he thought she was a boy at the time. At some point when Issei came over to Irina's house, she kissed him while he was sleeping. Sometime during his childhood, Issei met an old man who told him and other children stories about breasts, which eventually led to Issei's fascination with them, and his perverted tendencies.

Ten years prior to the story, an unknown phenomena occurred, as a large area within the Tokyo Area had suddenly become quarantined, and became the hub of supernatural activity. Reports also came in about the loss of the stars, and replaced with different ones, each signifying the life of an individual known as a Contractor, humans possessing supernatural abilities. Issei had lost his parents during a cruise vacation, and could not take him with them due to having fallen ill. In response to the appearance of Hell's Gate, Issei also lost his emotions, and subsequently became a Contractor.

At some point in time, Issei was recruited by Gate Royale, an organization created for the purpose of learning the truth behind Hell's Gate, as well as the elimination of the Khaos Brigade, thus being the anti-thesis of the Hero Faction, as while the group does have humans, they do not agree with Cao Cao's ideals. He was also paired up with two fellow Contractors named Motohama and Matsuda, as well as a man called Mao, who was stuck in the body of a cat, and a Doll called Yin. For the majority of his life, he began operating around the globe with his team and other groups in Gate Royale, most notably in South America, where the Heaven's Gate, a phenomena similar to the Hell's Gate, appeared. In his time with the organization, Issei would be given the dossier code BK201 by the Public Safety Bureau, and when knowledge came that he was also in possession of the Sacred Gear, Boosted Gear, he was labelled a potential SS-Class Threat by the Khaos Brigade. He would also later earn the moniker, "The Black Reaper," during one of his operations in Eastern Europe.

Abilities
Peak Human Condition: Issei's contract powers are especially useful because of his amazing agility, speed, endurance, dexterity, and natural strength.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Issei is obviously extremely skilled in martial arts and is an accomplished acrobat easily able to do backflips and mid-air cartwheels with little effort in terms of physical strain. Issei's natural abilities are so impressive that even without his contractor powers he is easily able to take on other contractors. A combination of these physical attributes coupled with his Sacred Gear arguably makes Issei one of the most dangerous Contractors in the story.

Tactician: Not unlike many Contractors, Issei possesses a very pragmatic and resourceful intellect; demonstrating a knack for improvisation during the heat of combat. Since Issei's contractor ability can only kill once in direct contact with the intended target, he often relies on taking his opponents by surprise in order to gain the advantage. His tactical unpredictability and resourcefulness coupled with his almost bullet-time speed makes him a daring foe. He is also capable of coordinating well with his teammates, effectively creating a terrifying set-up.

Electricity Manipulation: Issei possesses the ability to generate and discharge electricity through conductive media (i.e. he cannot discharge it through air or concrete) at sufficiently high amounts to kill grown men or short out a building's electrical systems.
 * Payment: Like all Contractors, Issei must perform a payment after using his abilities. In his case, after controlling an electrical current, he reads an adult magazine, which is rather ironic, given his perverted tendencies in childhood and his public persona at school.

Equipment
Boosted Gear (, Būsuteddo Gia ): Issei's Sacred Gear and main weapon. The Boosted Gear is one of the 13 Longinus which holds the spirit of the Welsh Dragon, the Red Dragon Emperor, Ddraig, one of the Heavenly Dragons. It is said to have the power to kill a God when fully mastered. Boosted Gear takes the form of a red gauntlet on the wielder's left hand that has the ability to Boost the user's power every 10 seconds without limit, and its sub-ability can Transfer the multiplied power to a being or object, it can even be used on certain parts of the user's body such as the eyes for enhanced vision. It is even capable of enhancing a Contractor's abilities, as when Issei used his Transfer ability on Havoc, her powers were exponentially increased to the point where she was able to tear apart and entire street and rip off the sides of several buildings.

Quotes
"...a rational proposal. I wouldn't have expected that from a Fallen Angel." -to Raynare (Life 0: BK201)

"It's true you are a Fallen Angel...just as it is true that we're humans...however, what right do you have to treat us 'lowly' humans as if we're vermin and tools to be used? What right do you have to kill us whenever you feel like it? What right do you have to toy with us as if we're your playthings...?!" -to Raynare (Life 0: BK201)

Trivia

 * Issei is '5, 7" ft tall, and weighs 137 lbs.
 * His birthday is April 16.
 * Issei's appearance is based off of Kazuma Torisuna from s-CRY-ed because the author is a fan of the series.
 * His favorite food is cheesecake.
 * Due to the setting of this alternate universe, Issei has more or less taken over Hei's role in the story.
 * Unlike Hei, however, Issei has a payment for his abilities, and does not possess molecular manipulation. This is due to the fact that Hei was granted Contractor abilities because his sister fused with him, hence making him into a pseudo-Contractor, and therefore, had no price to pay for his abilities.
 * Issei is a full-fledged Contractor, and therefore, he has a price to pay of his abilities.