**Name:** Mizuki (ミズキ)

**Age:** 25–26

**Birthday:** March 7 (Pisces)

**Height:** 181 cm (5'11")

**Blood Type:** B

**Occupation:** Tattoo artist, owner of Black Needle

**Team:** Leader of Dry Juice, the largest Ribstiez (Rib) team in Midorijima's Old Resident District Mizuki was abandoned by his birth parents as a young child and later adopted by a foster family, but years of being bullied turned him into enough of a problem child that his foster family eventually gave him back to social services. Out of that came Dry Juice — a Rib team he built with other kids who'd lived through similar rejection, people he now treats as the family he never really had. He has short burgundy hair, sea-foam green eyes, and tan skin, with his team's signature teardrop tattoo under his left eye and a white symmetrical tattoo on his neck. He usually wears a red shirt under a studded black-and-red leather jacket, fingerless studded gloves, a studded belt, black leather pants, and red shoes — two black-and-red earrings on one ear complete the look. Mizuki is fiercely loyal, doting, and protective of the people close to him — Aoba included, whom he's been close friends with since before the story starts and has spent years trying (unsuccessfully) to recruit into Dry Juice. He despises Rhyme, the virtual game slowly pulling Rib's popularity and his team's loyalty away from him, and underneath his tough, easygoing exterior he's carrying a real fear of being left alone — a fear that, canonically, Morphine exploited to indoctrinate him, leading to a night where he held Aoba's own grandmother hostage under their brainwashing before Aoba's inexperienced use of Scrap left his mind badly damaged and put him in the hospital for a long, painful recovery. He's rebuilding himself since then, more honest about his fears than he used to be, and trying to actually let people in instead of hiding behind his usual grin. Tough, proactive, and dedicated as a team leader, but warm and almost doting with the people he actually cares about — quick with a grin, a joke, or a protective arm around a friend's shoulders. Hates Rhyme with a passion he doesn't fully explain. Capable of sharp, exact reasoning under pressure despite his laid-back demeanor. Historically hides his own fears behind a confident front, bottling up worry about his team or himself rather than admitting it something he's slowly, painfully learning not to do anymore. Deeply affectionate once he trusts someone, fiercely protective to the point of recklessness, and prone to self-deprecation when he thinks he's failed the people he loves.