Masaharu Kaito (1980-) was a Japanese ex-yakuza and detective who served as a lieutenant of the Tojo-kai's Matsugane-gumi subsidiary and as a private investigator at the Yagami Detective Agency.
Biography[]
Masaharu Kaito was born in Tokyo in 1980, and he was abused by his alcoholic father as a child. After being expelled from high school due to his delinquency, he ran away from home and ultimately ended up in juvenile detention. He joined the Matsugame-gumi yakuza at a young age, and, while he initially despised Takayuki Yagami on meeting him at Bar Tender when he was 18, the two came to be close friends and partners.
Kaito came to manage the Charles gaming arcade in Kabukicho for over 20 years, and he proved to be one of the only forces capable of keeping captain Kyohei Hamura's influence in check. Meanwhile, be began dating Mikiko Natsume, the sister of one of his family's debtors, Maho Natsume. In 2007, his decision to avenge his patriarch Mitsugu Matsugane's shooting created a rift between him and Mikiko, enabling Kyoya Sadamoto to swoop in and marry her and thus seize her fortune.
Kaito in 2018
When the armed robber Red Nose stole 100 million yen from the Matsugane-gumi office, Kaito decided to cooperate so that nobody would b eharmed. While Toru Higashi was also present. Kaito took sole responsibility for the incident and was thus expelled from the family as an alternative to yubitsume. Shortly after, he was hired at the Yagami Detective Agency as a private detective, and he served as Yagami's extra muscle, bodyguard, and drone pilot. In 2018, he helped to investigate the AD-9 conspiracy and the related murders involving the Matsugane-gumi and Kyorei-kai, and he was later reunited with Higashi when Highashi and his men attacked Kaito at the detective agency's office. Kaito was later made a partner in Yagami's agency after Yagami discovered that he had been working with his old classmate Hayato Adachi on the side, and the two went on to capture Ryosuke Kido and interrogate him. Mitsuru Kuroiwa came to Kido's rescue and beat both men severely. The next month, during Kazuya Ayabe's trial, Kaito prevented Mitsuru Ishimatsu from escaping, and he learned that he had ordered Kuroiwa's death to cover up the ADDC's involvement in the murders. He and Yagami worked together to prevent Kuroiwa from killing Yoji Shono at the ADDC headquarters, and they witnessed the failure of AD-9 once Shono injected it into himself.
In 2019, Kaito met a disguised Kazuma Kiryu while scoping out Osaka for a potential Dotonbori expansion. In 2021, Yagami and Kaito investigated a bullying-related murder at Yokohama 99, and Kaito fell in love with the homeroom teacher Yoko Sawa. During the investigation, Daimu Akutsu unsuccessfully persuaded Kaito to join the RK gang, resulting in a fight. Sawa was later found murdered at her apartment after being held hostage by Kazuki Soma, and the two men proceeded to hunt down Soma. They learned from Akutsu that Soma worked for Public Security before Akutsu was killed. The two friends later tracked Soma down to a warehouse where Jin Kuwana had situated himself, and, while Kaito was unsure if there was a right answer as to whether Kuwana should stop his bully-hunting crusade, Yagami persuaded Kuwana to give up. With the case closed, the Yagami Detective Agency celebrated with the Yokohama 99 detectives and Toru Higashi.
In 2022, he was hired by Kyoya Sadamoto to find his suppsoedly-deceased wife Mikiko Sadamoto. Along the way, he discovered that Jun Sadamoto might be his biological son based of Mikiko's diary entry, persuading Kaito to accept the job despite an earlier unwillingness to reopen old wounds. During the search, the Bato Detective Agency kidnapped Jun, forcing Kaito to rescue him. While the doctor Yasutaka Shirakaba claimed that Mikiko was dead, Kaito forced him to reveal that he faked her death after the Crimson Lotus gang tried to murder her. Kaito soon made enemies with that gang, and he reunited with Mikiko after he caught her confronting Crimson Lotus gangsters over her family's murder. When Mikiko fell into Shusuke Kenmochi's trap, Kaito rescued her from the Red Brick Hotel. Not long after, Masao Igarashi informed Kaito that Sadamoto had orchestrated Mikiko's tragedy to inherit her parents' fortune, and that Kaito's breakup with her was part of the plan. He was poisoned by Sadamoto while rescuing Mikiko and Jun from captivity, and, before he passed out, he persuaded Mikiko not to kill Sadamoto and become a criminal; instead, Kenmochi strangled Sadamoto to death. Kaito remained unconscious for three days, but, when he awoke, he found a letter of challenge from Shirakaba. Kaito and Jun went to Shirakaba's clinic, where Kaito bested Shirakaba in a duel, and he persuaded Mikiko to restart their relationsihp.