Watanabe Hiroaki

Watanabe Hiroaki is a Japanese swordsman whose exuberant confidence survives both the shock of meeting a vastly stronger fighter and the long isolation between raids. Introduced under the shortened name Hiro, he declares Sungjin his sensei after the Greysoul Cemetery battle. Their late reunion turns that one-sided claim into a durable place among the Chosen Ones. (Chapters 15–21 and 175–180)

Appearance

At Greysoul Cemetery, Hiroaki is a young Japanese man with chin hair and eyebrow tips shaved into points. He wears equipment ranging from Normal to Rare quality and carries a katana bought from the Black Market. He identifies himself as twenty years old, although late narration inconsistently calls him a teenager or middle-schooler. At the reunion he has ornate equipment and a katana on each side of his waist. (Chapters 15, 18, 175, and 177)

Personality

Hiroaki is energetic, talkative, competitive, and inclined to turn admiration into loud declarations. He initially boasts that his companions can handle lesser monsters while he defeats the boss, resents how completely “Kei” outclasses him, and then pivots without embarrassment into reverence. Even his genuine fear of ghosts is expressed openly. That emotional transparency makes him comic at times, but it also leaves little room for concealed hostility or calculated betrayal. (Chapters 15–18)

His enthusiasm is paired with a capacity to listen when advice becomes serious. Hiroaki follows Sungjin into danger, asks direct questions about improvement, and accepts a strict warning that hidden bosses should be attempted only by intact, well-coordinated parties. Much later, he remains eager to prove himself and teases Nada despite his own unease, yet his loyalty to the sensei he chose and his delight in finding trustworthy companions have not diminished. (Chapters 18–21 and 177–180)

Biography

The cemetery pupil

Hiroaki enters Greysoul Cemetery under the Mid-level Samurai title and immediately announces that he can defeat the boss alone. The claim is inflated, but the underlying ability is real: he dismembers zombies with rapid katana strokes, protects weaker party members from ghouls, and notices that the stage feels easier because Sungjin has already devastated its monsters. His pride turns into stunned attention when he watches Sungjin fight with ability that seems beyond ordinary human skill. (Chapters 15–17)

When the party summons Deathmond, Hiroaki obeys Sungjin's instructions and joins Akanna in the front line. He attacks the lich's casting arm, deflects two Ice Lances before a third wounds him, drinks a potion, and returns to the fight despite further injury. After Sungjin finishes the boss, Hiroaki gives his full name, bows to the ground, and asks to become the stronger swordsman's pupil. Sungjin refuses the formal arrangement, but Hiroaki follows him and keeps calling him sensei. (Chapters 17–18)

That persistence produces practical teaching rather than ceremony. Sungjin tells Hiroaki to value real combat against monsters over dojo habits, and Hiroaki helps locate the ghost that leads to the hidden encounter. After the hidden-boss battle kills two teammates, Hiroaki still asks how such enemies are found because he wants comparable strength. Sungjin responds with a grave safety rule: search only when the whole party survives and has exceptional synergy. Hiroaki accepts the warning and promises to be stronger if they meet again. (Chapters 18–21)

Reunion among the Chosen Ones

Near the hunt's end, Sungjin uses Ios and sees a future dinner at which Hiroaki is welcomed by the Chosen Ones. The vision makes the swordsman's survival and loyalty more than a distant hope. During the next raid, Franz Hosenfeld reports a teammate claiming that Kei is his teacher, and Sungjin teleports to find Hiroaki waiting. The younger swordsman greets him as sensei with the same unguarded excitement he showed in the cemetery. (Chapters 175–177)

Hiroaki has survived the intervening raids independently and now wears ornate gear, but he still recognizes the Moon Specter that Sungjin obtained during their first meeting. He explains that stories of a ghost-sword-wielding Master Hunter circulated among survivors and cheerfully admits that he helped spread them by identifying the man as his teacher. When Franz questions whether one shared raid constitutes an apprenticeship, Hiroaki insists that it does and immediately asks for the same chance to spar that Franz received. (Chapter 177)

Sungjin offers Holy Water of Baptism, and Hiroaki accepts without hesitation so that they can meet again. He joins the alliance's shared meals and late-raid planning, while his playful dispute with Franz over the “true” apprentice position pushes both swordsmen toward improvement rather than hostility. Paired with Nada in the City of Crimson Moon, Hiroaki masks fear with bravado but falls to Beatrice's illusion and calls for a teacher named Meguri until Sungjin rescues him, showing that increased strength has not erased his vulnerabilities. (Chapters 177–180)

Relationships

• Sungjin: Hiroaki adopts Sungjin as his sensei after seeing the gap between their swordsmanship. Sungjin never formally accepts the title in the cemetery, yet gives sincere instruction, worries that Hiroaki's ambition could kill him, remembers him as trustworthy, and eventually makes their connection operational by recruiting him as a Chosen One. (Chapters 17–21 and 175–177)
• Franz Hosenfeld: Franz challenges Hiroaki's claim to apprentice status because he has fought and sparred with Sungjin more often. Hiroaki responds by demanding his own spar, and the rivalry raises Franz's desire to grow stronger. Their competition is boastful but friendly, with no evidence that either treats the other as an enemy. (Chapters 177 and 179)
• Nada: The two are paired in the City of Crimson Moon. Hiroaki recognizes a creature from Japanese folklore and teases Nada for being frightened, although his swagger partly conceals his own fear. Nada later calls Sungjin when an illusion overwhelms him, acting as the dependable teammate his early parties could not always provide. (Chapters 179–180)

Skills and abilities

Katana swordsmanship. Hiroaki is an Osaka regional kendo champion whose Mid-level Samurai title grants a katana-related bonus. In the cemetery he cuts limbs and heads from zombies with fast, controlled strokes and protects less capable allies. His technique is effective against ordinary undead, but Deathmond's Ice Shield stops his blade and exposes the difference between practiced human swordsmanship and late-stage supernatural defenses. (Chapters 15–18)

Dual-katana combat. By the late raids, Hiroaki carries two swords and has survived far enough for Sungjin to regard his skill as a meaningful addition to the alliance. The supplied chapters do not give a detailed catalogue of named techniques, so his improvement is established through survival, equipment, and the confidence of other veterans rather than a quantified claim about his power. (Chapters 175–180)

Adaptability and courage. Hiroaki can recover from surprise, pain, and embarrassment without withdrawing from the group. He returns to Deathmond's fight after being impaled, follows Sungjin through the dark despite his fear of ghosts, and treats instruction as something to apply across later raids. Illusion magic can still overwhelm him, and his confidence sometimes outruns his caution. (Chapters 16–21 and 179–180)

Equipment

• Katana pair: Hiroaki begins with a Black Market katana and later carries a sword on each side of his waist. The corpus shows his progression from single-blade kendo to a dual-katana late-raid style, but it does not supply the weapons' individual names or mechanics. (Chapters 15–18, 175, and 177)
• Ornate late-raid gear: At the reunion, Sungjin observes that Hiroaki is equipped from head to toe in ornate items. Their exact grades and effects are not identified, so the gear supports only the conclusion that he continued to improve and survive between their meetings. (Chapter 177)