Matsu

Matsu (松, Matsu, lit. "Pine") is a male Adept Rogue and the captain of Moon Tree's Seventh Division. He used to be a famous PK known as the "Flame Sword Demon" (赤鉄の鬼人, Akatetsu no Kijin, Red Iron Devil), before renouncing his ways and joining with Zelkova and Sakaki.

Appearance
Matsu's Job, Adept Rogue, is an uncommon class in which the player is allowed to choose multiple classes for their character. Matsu chose Steam Gunner and Edge Punisher. Since joining Moon Tree he has forbidden himself from using his Edge Punisher class, which he favored when he was a PK.

Personality
Though he is usually able to control it, Matsu is very hot tempered. He especially hates PKers, and does everything in his power to defend people from them, including going on regular patrols to find and stop PKers. His oath as a member of Moon Tree keeps him from attacking players except in self-defense, but he has learned how to taunt PKers into making the first move, allowing him to defeat them without any repercussions. He is fiercely loyal to Zelkova and Sakaki and recently developed a rivalry with Haseo.

Basic Info
In the real world, Matsu is a 17-year-old high school student named Shingo Kudou (九藤真吾). He lives in Aichi Prefecture, and was formerly well known for his delinquency as a Bosozoku. After suffering from a motorcycle accident when he was sixteen, Shingou was required to remain at home in order to recover. During his recovery, Shingou first began to play The World; since then his violent tendencies have mostly vanished. Although he is admired by women, he isn't very interested in a relationship.

Hobbies
Matsu's hobbies include vintage clothing and motorcycles. He's part of a motorcycle biking team in real life. He loves to eat meat, as he believes it's what real men eat. Matsu also prides himself as a decent fighter.

.hack//GnU
As the Captain of the Seventh Division, Matsu is the leader of most of the characters in GnU. He ordered Infini and Furufuru to revive Raid after he was PKed, saying that he was too busy to deal with it himself.

.hack//G.U. Games
After receiving a warning from Sakubo that Bordeaux was planning to PK Haseo, Atoli called Sakaki and Matsu to come save him. Though the rescue was successful Matsu found Haseo's ungratefulness very annoying. Matsu later entered the Demon Palace Arena Tournament with several of his subordinates. Haseo and his friends had also entered this tournament and fought against Matsu in the second round. Not wanting to lose to somebody like Haseo, Matsu broke his promise to Zelkova and unlocked his Edge Punisher form. However, even with the added power he still lost the match. After talking with Zelkova, Matsu gave Haseo his rare Flame Sword, a weapon he had used as a PKer, finally allowing him to distance himself from his past.

Later, Matsu encountered Haseo during a quest. He demanded that Haseo duel him, an offer Haseo accepted, but they were interrupted when Negimaru and several of his henchmen attacked. Though Haseo and Matsu easily defeated the PKers, Matsu decided the mood had been ruined, and swore he'd fight Haseo another day.

Later, Matsu participated in Sakaki's takeover of Moon Tree's @HOME, he fought against Haseo, though he held back by not using his Broadsword. Before being defeated he told Haseo that his loyalty to Sakaki was out of an obligation for being taken in by him. After first hearing about Sakaki. Matsu decided to challenge him to a fight, only to lose both physically, and mentally. Like the other Sakaki loyalists, he temporarily became a Lost One but recovered after Haseo destroyed Sakaki's AIDA Server. In the fallout following Sakaki's attempted coup d'état he sought out Haseo. Despite the fact that Moon Tree was now in shambles he told Haseo that he intended to keep playing The World. Handing over his Member Address he asked Haseo to play with him sometimes.

Due to his former record as a PKer, Matsu was invited to join Sakaki's PK tournament. Having heard that the winner will get a wish fulfilled, he became determined to win and use his wish to restore Moon Tree to its former glory. Though he easily made it past the first round, Matsu was defeated in the second round by Antares. However, Matsu felt no anger towards Antares, and was in fact so impressed by his skill that he admitted to Haseo that he "got chills" when Antares beat him.

Matsu supported Haseo as he battled his way through the PK tournament, and continued to do so after Haseo successfully defeated Taihaku and Sakaki. Later, after receiving an e-mail from Zelkova, Matsu reunited with Moon Tree Captain's Kaede, Sophora, and Hiiragi and battled alongside them against Cubia's Gomora. After Cubia was defeated Matsu e-mailed Haseo telling him that he had decided to take a break from "The World" so he could focus on real life more.

.hack//G.U. Returner
Matsu is briefly seen at Δ Hidden Forbidden Festival.

Trivia



 * Matsu is 5'10" (178 cm) in height.
 * Matsu shares his English and Japanese voice actors with Sora.
 * Matsu told Melo Grunty a ghost story, which made the latter sad.
 * Mirroring his real world self, Matsu is very good with motorcycles in "The World" and has the top record on all of the steam biker time trail courses.
 * Matsu's Demon Palace arena team is named "Wicked Party".
 * Matsu's starter Bayonet is called the Fire Bead, a Gun Bead which is customized with a Fire Mouse Skin. However, the gun that is prominently shown on promotional images, as well as his status screen image and a Crimson VS card modeled after him is a common Gun Ocher (customization notwithstanding). Its red color matches well with his overall red theme.
 * Matsu is the only Adept Rogue to join Haseo's Party, however, he is limited to Steam Gunner weapons only.
 * Despite saying that he was going to take a break from "The World", you can in fact continue using Matsu after you receive the email.