Ichiro Sato

"Names are just symbols. Like Kyo and Kyoko Tohno and Sieg and Tomonari Kasumi. Though they are different, they all stand for the same thing."

- Ichiro Sato

Ichiro Sato (佐藤一郎, Satō Ichirō) is the name used by Helba's assistant. His codename, Bith the Black, comes from the character in the Epitaph of Twilight who is the assistant of Helba, Queen of the Dark.

Online
While Ichiro is an experienced hacker, he does not possess a character in The World. He leaves all business inside the game to Helba, while he works outside of the game in the real world.

Offline
"Ichiro Sato" (The Japanese equivalent of "John Smith" or "John Doe") is not Bith's real name; indeed, he doesn't believe he needs to reveal it, as a name is a name, a mere combination of symbols used to distinguish oneself. He is a skilled computer hacker working for the infamous Helba, and carries out her orders in the real world. Despite his cool exterior and way of talking, he can be seen as rather goofy at times, such as when he explains the mysteries behind The World while eating a hamburger.

.hack//ZERO
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.hack//Liminality
At the behest of Helba, Ichiro tested the determination of Junichiro Tokuoka and Kyoko Tohno. When he decided that they were ready, he met with them personally and revealed the information he knew about Morganna, the Ultimate AI, and CC Corp's plan to destroy the link between The World and the comatose victims. He then revealed his own plan to retrieve the data while it still existed and aid Helba in defeating Morganna and freeing the Ultimate AI. Tokuoka and Kyoko agreed to the plan, which would be implemented on Christmas Eve at CC Corp's Uruya data center.

At Uruya, Ichiro hacked his way into the control center and acted as the lookout for security. He gave Tokuoka's party extra time to escape by stalling two guards at the control center. Although he was arrested by the police for questioning, he managed to fool them into believing he was testing the center's security system for CC Corp. With his fake credentials checking out, the police had no choice but to release him.

Trivia

 * Ichiro is usually seen eating a snack at what would otherwise be dramatic moments.

Ichiro Sato