Raika Hojo

Raika is a young boy of below average height and slim build. He has long, messy, dark teal hair that sticks out in tufts with the back grown out until the bottom of his torso, and red eyes. His outfit consists of a cream colored long sleeved top with an opening on the left sleeve exposing part of his arm, and a singular diagonal zipper along the bottom. It is decorated with a piece of red fabric that hangs from above the torso with the number "97." This is worn over a sleeveless navy blue undershirt, light orange trousers with the legs rolled up, and a pair of brown sandals. He wears a silver chain around his neck.

Raika is a somewhat ditzy young boy, often referring to himself as bird-brained, demeaning his memory and information retention abilities. He speaks in archaic fashion, atypical for a child of his age.

During the 4piece audition, Raika states he has neglected eating for days. He has also attempted to hunt for small creatures to eat due to hunger, exhausting the last of his energy trying to catch something. When presented with food he does not hesitate to eat, often scoffing it down so fast that it's regarded as impolite or poses a choking hazard to him.

As a habit, Raika steals absentmindedly. Though he is aware it's wrong, he doesn't register his actions as stealing and remains unaware of the ramifications until he's confronted. He has stolen Anzu's wallet, and food from Mitsuru; both times he apologizes profusely and says he didn't mean to do it. He attempts to balance out stealing Anzu's wallet with stuffing it full of bugs, as he thinks filling her wallet is a good repayment for the bad action of stealing; but as he has no money, he puts bugs in, and seems genuinely shocked when Anzu gets mad at him for it.

Raika acts surprised when treated kindly by others, and responds in earnest each time, amazed he's being given grace and insisting he'll repay the person who's assisted him somehow. He is often apologetic when he thinks he's burdening others, even when they insist otherwise. He states that repaying others' kindness was taught to him in the facility he lived in.

Hojo is written with 宝 (hou; treasure, wealth) and 丈 (jou; height, everything someone has). Raika is written with 萊 (rai; goosefoot, weed, fallow field) and 香 (ka; fragrance, scent).

Before his debut in VS★GOURMET, Raika's last name was romanized as "Houjyo" on multiple occasions, reflected in the official PR materials where he was wearing his 4piece tshirt with name tag, and his original audition jersey live2d model. This was changed to be consistent with his in-game romanization, and the promotional materials were reuploaded shortly after the original uploads to reflect the change.

(https://ensemble-stars.fandom.com/wiki/Raika_Hojo)