Yōsuke Hirata

Yōsuke Hirata is currently a second-year student of Advanced Nurturing High School. At the start of the series, he was introduced as the class representative and a student of Class 1-D, seated on the leftmost seat of the second row, next to Kei Karuizawa. He is considered as one of the top students in his class.

He is also a member of the Soccer Club. His excellent grades are worthy of being in an more elite class; however, he ended up in Class D for reasons yet to be explained.

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 is a very mature and friendly person when around other people and rarely gets mad. His warm nature has led to the majority of the class to recognize him as a class representative. He obtained the trust of the class while attracting the attention of several girls, most notably Kei Karuizawa where he accepted a relationship with her to help prevent any sort of bullying that might come to Kei as she was afraid of what happened when she was in middle school repeating again, in which this goal seems to have been achieved.

Hirata has a trusting side to him, as shown when 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 has an adept leadership ability as shown in the survival test where he managed to get everyone to come to the common ground after a brief argument over provision and points.

Despite all the positive qualities he displays in his class, he can be quite shaken up, as shown when he became horrified after the survival book was burned and was so stunned that he couldn't understand what caused this to happen. He only snapped out of it when he heard Kiyotaka stating his class was asking for help as he gave them orders.

In the light novels, it is revealed that his personality stems from the guilt of abandoning his childhood friend who suffered 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. Yōsuke also is shown to be more perceptive, as he slowly deduces Kiyotaka is the one orchestrating their class success.

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 decent grades good enough to get him into the upper classes, but currently unknown factors led to him being put in Class D.

Intellectual Abilities
Yōsuke has demonstrated that he possesses quite a talent in leading others, becoming one of Class D' central figures and class representatives. He further proved this going into the special island survival test, using sound strategies to rack up as many points as possible for his class. 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.'