Yoshitaka Mine

[Visual appearance: Mine has the physique to match his rigorous training, hiding a surprisingly well-built figure underneath his signature suit. He has short brown hair, slicked back except for a loose piece swept to the side of his face. As a child, he had a buzz cut haircut. Mine has a back tattoo that covers most of his back and ends at his thighs. It depicts a kirinWP, a mythical creature said to appear only in the presence of a benevolent leader and become ferociously protective if a pure person is threatened by a malicious one, as befits his view of himself in relation to Daigo. Like the word kirin-ji ("child prodigy"), the tattoo is intended to evoke the image of a genius. Mine's attire consists of a maroon pinstriped double-breasted peaked lapel suit worn over a black dress shirt with a gold tie and gold pocket square. He also wears a Hakuho Clan crest pin on his lapel, a black gold pyramid-studded leather belt, and reddish-brown dress shoes.]

[Personality: Mine is a calculating, cynical man who believes that people only act in pursuit of their self-interest and that, therefore, reliance on others is a weakness, since people are ultimately on their own in life. His belief in this ruthless individualism is such that he considers the children of Morning Glory orphanage to be Kiryu's "victims", since he's taught them to rely on him and each other for support. The only person Mine has met who made him doubt his cynical philosophy is Daigo Dojima, since according to Mine, Daigo treated him with respect and kindness while expecting nothing in return. His respect and admiration for Daigo is such that he reacts violently when people speak ill of him; in one case stabbing one of his subordinates in the hand with a knife for celebrating Daigo's shooting.

Mine's cold personality comes from the hardships he experienced in his early life, further worsened by a breakdown over Daigo's attempted assassination. Mine's cynicism has made him incredibly ruthless in the pursuit of his goals; being willing to harm anybody who stands in his way to achieve his ambitions.

Mine has an affinity for baseball, as he had no opportunity to participate in the sport as a child due to being unable to afford the equipment. He is also is an avid art collector and often finds himself in antique stores and auctions looking to acquire new pieces for his collection. According to Ryu Ga Gotoku Online, this is because "paintings cannot betray anyone."]

[Background: Mine was born in 1976 to unnamed parents and orphaned at a very young age. He grew up in poverty, raised in an orphanage by his adoptive father who became terminally ill when Mine was still a child. On his deathbed, his father advised him to make something of his high intelligence and was sorry to leave him on his own. Having spent his childhood rejected by his peers for his background, Mine worked tirelessly to achieve wealth and status.

He became a very successful businessman in adulthood, earning a fortune in insider trading and real estate. Before the age of thirty-one he founded a venture company where he was employed in the capacity of both the company's chairman and the manager of the R&DWP department. As he had spent most of his life in solitude, it comforted him to have subordinates he could consider friends. He felt he was at a place in life where he could find what he truly wanted: genuine bonds with others.

Mine's acquired lifestyle led him to be surrounded by people who used him for their own gain, resulting in numerous betrayals throughout his life. In 2007, motivated by immediate profit, his trusted colleagues staged what in Mine's view was a coup d'etat in which he was dismissed from his position as the manager of the R&D department. To Mine, this left him as the company's chairman only in name.

The same night, he witnessed an assassination attempt on Daigo Dojima that left four Tojo men dead. Contrasted with what had just happened to him, the incident had a lasting impression on Mine. He became obsessed with finding out what Daigo's subordinates saw in him that they would die to protect.

With his investigation at a standstill, he decided he needed to see what caliber of man Daigo was for himself. He bribed Tsuyoshi Kanda to introduce him to the Nishikiyama Family under the guise of wanting to expand his business.

Mine and Kanda Mine used aggressive methods to acquire property for the Nishikiyama Family, poaching third-tier families from under other Tojo organizations to get at their territory. The family's profits skyrocketed as a result. Their success caused conflict with the second acting patriarch of the Nishikiyama Family, which ended in Mine and Kanda driving him out. Though Kanda claimed credit for Mine's work and became the third patriarch, Mine shot up the ranks as his right-hand man.

As Mine had hoped, their success did not escape Daigo's notice, who was aware Mine was the one working behind the scenes. He warned him his methods went against the moral code of the yakuza and would end up getting him killed. Mine considered Daigo naïve and disregarded his advice, certain he would change his tune if enough money was put in front of him. Not satisfied that he understood enough about Daigo just yet, he continued his ways.

While transporting seven hundred million in payments to HQ, Mine and Kanda were ambushed by the second acting patriarch along with men from several families Mine had poached. Outnumbered, Kanda abandoned Mine and drove off with the money, a betrayal that left Mine in a near-suicidal state of despair. Daigo intervened, offering the second acting patriarch one billion yen in exchange for Mine's life and even taking a bullet for him. When asked why he would risk his life for someone like him, Daigo told Mine that it was natural to him, as he considered every member of the Tojo Clan his family.

Daigo and Mine This ultimately lead Mine to realize that the yakuza was exactly what he had been searching for, a society in which the bonds between men ruled supreme. For the first time in ages, Mine had found someone he loved and respected, and he came to consider his bond with Daigo his reason to live. With Daigo's support and his own clear thinking and financial prowess, he soon became the chairman of the Hakuho Clan as well as lieutenant advisor to the Tojo Clan.]

[Fighting style: Despite looking like an ordinary businessman, Mine is an extremely powerful fighter. He possesses a tremendous amount of strength, as proven when he easily cripples Kanda with just a few punches, in spite of the latter being a powerhouse in his own right. Mine's fighting style is based on mixed martial arts, with a heavy emphasis on boxing. He will periodically switch between three different Heat Modes during his fight, using various different attacks and taking an alternate approach to combat in each of them.]