Yōsuke Hirata

Appearance
Yōsuke is a young man of average height with blonde hair and brown eyes.

He is often seen wearing the standard school uniform, but when outside of school he wore a striped shirt when he and Kei Karuizawa ran into Suzune Horikita over summer break.

Personality
Yōsuke exudes a very mature and friendly vibe in the presence of other people and is rarely seen getting mad. His warm nature has led to the majority of the class to recognize him as their class representative. He obtained the trust of the class while also attracting the attention of several girls. Most notably Kei Karuizawa, where he accepted a relationship with her to help safeguard her against any sort of bullying that might come to Kei. After she shared her past with him, he empathized and knew that she was afraid of her traumatic experience in middle school recurring once again in high school, and thus, he allowed her to use his reputation as an added precaution against bullies.

Hirata emanates his thoughtfulness personality often. For instance, he covered for Kiyotaka Ayanokōji after he found Karuizawa's underwear on him, believing his explanation of not being the thief as he wouldn't do such a thing, despite not knowing him well or having evidence to prove otherwise.

He displays adequate leadership and diplomatic abilities as shown in the survival test where he managed to get everyone to agree to a consensus after a brief argument over provision and points by voicing his opinion.

Despite all the positive qualities he displays in his class, he can be quite prone to cracking under pressure, as shown when he became horrified after the survival book was burned and was so stunned that he couldn't understand what caused it to happen. He only snapped out of it when he heard Kiyotaka stating that his class was asking for help and needed him to give them orders. He can be extremely naive at times as he was the only one adamantly defending Yamauchi against his other classmates after it was revealed that he betrayed them for Class A and was looking to expel Kiyotaka. He failed to recognise how much influence he truly holds and was vehemently told Horikita that he will give his criticism vote to her under the rationale that she was disrupting their class tranquillity when she unceasingly questioned Yamauchi. Even though Yamauchi was considered the least valuable member of their class and was a traitor, he unpretentiously told the class to cast their criticism vote on him instead which would lead to expulsion despite knowing that the class views him with greater importance. He has went against his class more than once and openly showed his dissatisfaction and anger to his classmates after he couldn’t handle all the anxiety bottled up in himself. On one occasion, Kiyotaka straightforwardly and unabashedly repeated his failures and told him to stop trying to find excuses to run away. This caused him to break down and realise his mistakes while also jokingly refer to Kiyotaka for being mean.

In the light novels, it is revealed that his personality stems from the guilt of abandoning his childhood friend who suffered from severe bullying without Yōsuke being there. Through this experience, he has tried to solve things using an alternative way rather than fighting even if it's not the best solution. He also knows when to draw the line when helping others such as Kei and will evade confrontation whenever violence seems unavoidable. Yōsuke is also shown to be incredibly perceptive, as he slowly deduced that Kiyotaka was the one orchestrating their class successes and not Suzune Horikita. He has also shown no interest in women and on the topic of romance as a whole. He told Kiyotaka that he genuinely believes that this would continue being the case even as he progress through life.

Plot
In the anime's debut, Yōsuke, like the other first years, listened in to the speech given by Manabu Horikita, the Student Council President welcoming them to the Advanced Nurturing High School. While waiting for their teacher to begin the class that day, he asked everyone in Class D to introduce themselves, starting off by giving his name and stating how he played every sport imaginable and wanting to apply for the soccer club, while also hoping to get along with everyone else.

Other people followed his lead, introducing themselves in turn until Ken Sudō cut in, remarking how childish it was before their teacher Sae Chabashira walked in and started class. Of course like the rest of his class. He was surprised by their initial 100,000 points, but was of course confused as to why they didn't receive any next month, prompting Sae to give out a further explanation of the points system and why Class D is seen as being as it is.

At the start of Episode 2 of the anime, Yōsuke was seen hanging with his class at the pool, getting especially close with Kei Karuizawa.

For most episodes after that, he is often seen in the background or associating with Kei as shown they were seen together talking to Suzune Horikita outside the dormitories before Kei dragged him away.

During the school cruise, Yōsuke formally met Kiyotaka Ayanokōji on the cruise and attempted to make conversation before revealing needed his help in getting Suzune to be more involved with the class socially and academically.

Onshore along with the rest of the class, the purpose of the cruise was revealed; to hold a one-week survival test with a chance to gain points for overtaking higher classes. Setting out on a Deserted Island, Yōsuke together with his classmates discussed how to use their S-Points sparingly to gain more class points at the end of the exam.

After the camp was set up and Kei's underwear is stolen, Yōsuke searched the boys for them and when searching Kiyotaka, he found the underwear on him (after Ike had given them to him). Not wanting any further problems, he covered for him, much to the latter's surprise. In the evening, Kiyotaka questioned his motives for not revealing the truth, with Yōsuke asking if he was the one who stole them, but as Kiyotaka denied it, Yōsuke believed him, disclosing he didn't think he was the type of guy to do that sort of thing.

The next day, the girls wanted the boys separated from them. Though Yōsuke at first attempted to dissuade them, he eventually agreed to the decision. Since he is well known for being kind and trusting, the girls put him on guard duty for the separation, but Suzune stepped in stating that since Yōsuke is a boy he needed to be watched as well. The girls acknowledged her point but had no idea who to pick as most of the boys were lecherous. Suzune nominated Kiyotaka as another guard for work and watch Yōsuke. This decision was accepted by Yōsuke and the girls.

When the camp faced a problem after the survival book is burned, Yōsuke is left in despair as he broke down, unable to process why misfortune was befalling the camp. He was snapped out of it by Kiyotaka, who further motivated him to take charge and get the camp under control.

At the end of the test, Kiyotaka informed Yōsuke of everything that had happened the night before, including how Suzune was too ill to continue the survival test, and at one point handed him the other class leaders name to get the class a whole lot of points. When Yōsuke asked about how he got the names, Kiyotaka passed the credit onto Suzune. The whole class was relieved that they won the test and celebrated Suzune's accomplishments, unbeknownst to them that Kiyotaka was the true mastermind.

Physical Abilities
Yōsuke hasn't been shown to do much in terms of physical strength or brute force, but he has mentioned that he plays every sport imaginable and tried out for the school soccer club.

Academic Abilities
Yōsuke has demonstrated exceptional grades good enough to put him into the upper classes, but currently unknown factors in the anime led to him being put in Class D.

Intellectual Abilities
Yōsuke has demonstrated numerous time that he possesses a talent in leading others, becoming one of Class D' central figures and class representative. He further proved this during the midst of the special island survival test. He used sound strategies to rack up as many points as possible for his class, although it was not enough and was outdone by the other classes. They would had lost if it were not for Kiyotaka intervention which shows that he too has limits to his abilities. He has shown that when things go wrong, he is not above cracking under pressure, but can quickly recover when people assure him that he needs to be calm and collected.

Name Etymology

 * The name Yōsuke consists of kanjis that mean "ocean" (洋) (yō) and "forerunner, herald" (介) (suke).
 * Yōsuke's surname Hirata consists of kanjis that mean "flat" (平) (hira) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta).

Trivia

 * As Class D is for those with defective traits, Yōsuke's defect is his involvement in a certain incident that appeared on the news.
 * For the 2nd Year arc, when asked about his aspirations for the next year, he answered  'I want to be the kind of person who can help my friends regarding their troubles and properly support and help them.'