Masato (マサト, Masato) is a minor character in Season 3 of Alice in Borderland. He is part of Arisu's Team. He is portrayed by Yugo Mikawa.
Appearance[]
Masato is a young man with short dark hair parted to the side and rectangular glasses. He is dressed in a light beige jacket over a white shirt and beige trousers. He has a big mole on his right upper lip.
History[]
Prior to his last arrival at the Borderland, Masato was a teacher in middle/junior high school (中学校, chuugakkou). While at work, he once experienced a cardiac arrest, which is when he saw Banda and received a Joker card from him. Same as the other participants of the Joker Tournament, Masato had played the games before, making his Sojourn in Season 3 a return to the Borderland rather than his first visit. However, the games he experienced in the past were not the same ones faced by Arisu and his group. Since Borderland games are created and overseen by individual Citizens, their scale, rules, and format vary depending on who hosts them. Therefore, Masato's earlier participation took place under different Citizens, resulting in a distinct set of challenges.
Story[]
As Arisu walks into the shrine's territory, he sees 20 other participants, including Masato.
Hearing that the game is about to commence, Masato wonders what "game" means. After the rules of the "Sacred Fortunes" are explained, players start drawing slips, and Shion whispers to Masato that Tetsu is on drugs.
After Tetsu draws the first fortune and nothing bad happens, Masato feels confident to continue. But the second fortune comes with a math equation, and the wrong answer sends three flaming arrows towards the crowd, killing two unnamed participants and causing panic. Sachiko draws the third fortune and reads the probability question, to which Masato assumes the answer has to be over 100 and leans towards option #3, 183. Sachiko chooses the middle number, which ends up being incorrect, and 55 arrows are launched towards the venue.
Masato during the "Sacred Fortunes" game
Masato draws the fourth fortune, and the question is, "How long does it take for blood pumped from the heart to make one round trip through the entire body?" Masato chooses 80 seconds instead of 30, and 50 flaming arrows fly towards the players.
A few more mistakes cause more damage. By the ninth round, Masato witnesses Tetsu trying to remove an arrow from Shion's leg and stop the bleeding. He points out that Tetsu is good at first aid.
When there is only one last fortune to draw, Masato asks Arisu to do it. After Arisu draws the last fortune and answers incorrectly, he starts looking for an escape route and asks everyone for the unlucky directions they had on their slips. Eventually, the players figure out the safe zone of the venue and rush towards the exit, which ends up blocked by lasers. While the others panic, Kazuya and Masato help Arisu lift up a stone to unlock the way into an underground tunnel. Then they all jump down and reach a notice congratulating them on clearing the game. Another noticeboard they bump into when they are out instructs them to proceed 17 km northeast, because the next game starts the next day at sundown. Walking slightly further, they see multiple blimps holding a massive Joker card.
Having found a shelter and looking at their own Joker cards, everyone realizes that they received them from the same man. While everyone is sharing their life stories, Masato looks at Kazuya, thinking of asking him too, but Kazuya looks intimidating, so Masato reconsiders.
On the way to the next game venue, Tetsu and Sachiko argue about Arisu's decision to enter the Borderland to save his wife. Nobu wonders what the chances are for him to find her, and Masato calculates that they are 5%. By sundown, they reach the National Institute of Virus Research and enter the game venue, where they see eight more participants. They listen to the rules, and the "Zombie Hunt" game begins.
Masato during the "Zombie Hunt" game
Masato teams up with Natsu for the first few rounds of mini-games and loses at least one of them. He is present when Arisu explains the rules of the Joker Tournament and brings two women with Zombie cards. Then Rei introduces her plan to survive without the need to kill anyone.
Masato and the others spread out and explain Rei's strategy to the other participants. However, some players decide to start killing the zombies, and Kazuya returns from one of the games with blood on his face. Masato calls out to him carefully, but Kazuya explains that he is simply playing by the game rules.
After some players decide to start threatening the zombies to get information about the other zombies, the latter come up with a plan to infect as many participants as possible. Masato ends up playing against one of these people and gets a Zombie card.
Masato comes back to the common room, and his face quickly reveals his predicament. He admits to having received a Zombie card and claims that he was planning to tell the others. They become hostile, so he quickly mentions that he knows the face of the person who infected him, and Ikeno decides to eliminate that player. He assigns the task to Nobu, but Arisu and Tetsu defend him, so Ikeno threatens to shoot Masato if they do not comply.
Having realized that more players might be hiding Zombie cards, Ikeno decides to start killing the zombies, so Masato and the others are shoved towards an unspecified location. Masato tries to escape and runs around the facility. He stumbles upon Rei and begs her to use her Vaccine card on him, but Rei does not have enough time to react before two players attack Masato, while Kazuya and Ikeno corner her. Round 17 is announced, Tominaga touches Masato, and the mini-game begins. Masato's hands are shaking as he nervously turns over his Zombie card on the table, and his opponent turns over a Shotgun card. Masato realizes what is coming next, so he starts having a panic attack. Then he jumps from the chair and attempts to run, but the laser shoots through his head, and his body falls to the floor lifelessly.
Games Played[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The forename Masato is commonly written as "正人" (correct, person) or "昌人" (prosper, person). The exact kanji depend on the official spelling, which is not provided in the show, as the name is written in katakana.
- Masato is a new character that did not appear in the original manga source.