Kyousuke Irie

Kyousuke Irie is a supporting character in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, serving as the head doctor of the Irie Clinic in Hinamizawa. In his spare time he coaches the village's youth baseball team, the Hinamizawa Fighters, which is why local children call him "Kantoku," or coach. Behind his cheerful, easygoing manner lies a much darker personal history.

Irie grew up in a poor family and worked hard to earn a place at a prestigious medical school in Tokyo. His father, a construction worker, began suffering violent outbursts after a head injury on the job and was eventually killed in a street fight; the strain later left his mother senile. The tragedy pushed Irie toward neurosurgery and psychosurgery, where he was hailed as a young genius for his lobotomy work, yet his refusal to stop performing the procedure without patient consent after it was banned got him expelled from the medical community. His controversial reputation later drew the attention of the shadowy organization "Tokyo," which brought him into Miyo Takano's research group.

Although the clinic bears his name, real authority rests with Takano, and Irie knows he was installed mainly as a figurehead who would take the blame if the village's secret emergency plan were ever carried out. In several timelines, once the situation turns hopeless, he ends his own life rather than face arrest.

Irie harbors an odd, overprotective attachment to Satoko Houjou, whom he half-jokingly calls his future bride, while quietly treating the illness afflicting her. He also secretly keeps her missing brother, Satoshi Houjou, alive and hidden beneath the clinic. For most of the story he remains unaware of Takano's true intentions, only turning against her after Rika Furude confides in him what she has learned across her many lives.