Kyōsuke Irie is the head doctor of the Irie Clinic in Hinamizawa and the coach of the local children's baseball team, the Hinamizawa Fighters, who call him "Kantoku." He is a tall man with long, light brown hair parted in the middle, green eyes, and is almost always seen wearing glasses, which are oval-shaped in some media and rectangular in the anime. At the clinic, he typically wears a black suit vest over a dark gray collared shirt with a yellow tie, black suit pants, black shoes, and a white lab coat. On his days off, his attire consists of a yellow shirt with sunglasses in the pocket, white pants, and blue shoes. His baseball uniform is a red, white, and yellow shirt featuring a yellow "H" or "Hinamizawa" on the sleeve and the number "1," paired with white pants, a black belt, and red wristbands. His childhood was marked by poverty, yet he aspired to become a doctor from a young age, earning him the neighborhood nickname "Doctor Kyōsuke-kun." He was consistently elected class health monitor, and his teachers consulted him on the courses required for a medical career. After graduation, he was accepted into a prestigious public medical school in Tokyo, believed to be the University of Tokyo, though his academic ranking was not near the top. His parents, a construction worker and a sensitive woman who did not attend college, threw an expensive celebration despite the high tuition costs. Irie shared a good relationship with his parents, though his father was stern and his mother sensitive; if he upset his mother, his father would give him a light hit on the head. He once witnessed his father, not usually an emotional man, cry heartfelt tears at his acceptance party. During medical school, Irie faced significant academic stress and was tempted by city life but resisted by reading letters from home. One letter mentioned his father's sudden violent outbursts, which Irie found odd but dismissed. One winter day, his mother arrived at his apartment with luggage, having fled due to his father's escalating abuse. Irie planned to confront his father during the New Year break, but his father was killed in an alleyway after picking a fight with street thugs before that could happen. As Irie continued his studies, his mother became senile and increasingly critical of her husband. A professor suggested his father's violence resulted from an organic brain syndrome due to frontal lobe trauma from a construction accident involving a blow from a 2x4. This sparked Irie's interest in psychosurgery. He tried unsuccessfully to convince relatives his father's behavior was medical, not intentional. His mother's last words were a request not to be buried next to his father. This led him to specialize in neurosurgery with a focus on psychosurgery to help others like his father. Irie studied under a prominent psychosurgeon, rapidly gained experience, and performed successful lobotomies, earning a reputation as a "young genius" in the field. However, the procedure had a high number of failures, leading to medical community distrust. After lobotomies were banned, Irie continued performing them without patient consent, believing they were the only solution for certain mental illnesses. This resulted in his expulsion from the medical academic society. His aggressively liberal medical articles attracted the attention of a group referred to as "Tokyo," who recruited him for Takano Miyo's research team. The Irie Clinic, though under his name, is effectively controlled by Takano Miyo. It was established as a cover for researching Hinamizawa Syndrome by "Tokyo," who preferred a male figurehead. Irie understands his role is largely symbolic but takes the research seriously. Most villagers, except the Furude family, are unaware of the clinic's true purpose. As director, Irie is supposed to approve Emergency Manual #34, which would result in the deaths of all villagers. His function is to serve as a scapegoat if operations fail. In scenarios where the worst occurs, such as in Tatarigoroshi-hen and Minagoroshi-hen, he dies by suicide with sleeping pills before government arrest. His relationship with Hōjō Satoko is complex. He has expressed a desire to marry her when she is older, which is portrayed as a half-joking eccentricity, and he refers to himself as a "husband" or "master" to both Rika and Satoko. He becomes upset when Satoko does not wear a maid headband he gifted her. Despite these behaviors, he is genuinely concerned for her health, as he knows she suffers from Hinamizawa Syndrome and administers regular injections to suppress her symptoms. He once considered dissecting her for research but was stopped by Rika's influence. He is now dedicated to finding a cure so she can live happily with her brother, Satoshi. Regarding Hōjō Satoshi, Irie was aware of the abuse Satoshi endured from his aunt and uncle and tried to help by engaging him in baseball. However, Satoshi eventually quit the team. Irie recognized the advanced stages of Hinamizawa Syndrome in Satoshi, brought him to the clinic, and placed him in a pharmacological coma in a hidden underground research facility. He continued to care for him there, keeping his condition a secret until revealing it to Shion in Matsuribayashi-hen. Irie's relationship with Takano Miyo is one of manipulation. For most story arcs, he is unaware of her role in the tragedies and views her as a dedicated nurse. He does not suspect her involvement in Jirō Tomitake's murder. He understands she might resent him because the clinic was supposed to be named after her, but "Tokyo" intervened. Takano selected him for his malleable personality and history of unethical experiments. Though she initially saw him as useless, she later praised his work on a cure prototype, acknowledging him as an equal. Irie is complicit in some of Takano's actions, such as the vivisection of a construction manager and the removal of Rika's parents. He convinces Takano to let him treat Satoshi and Satoko when Rika agrees to be a research subject. It is only in Matsuribayashi-hen that Rika reveals Takano's true intentions, and Irie realizes she must be stopped. He maintains a friendly relationship with Tomitake Jirō through all arcs, working with him under Takano's direction, and never suspects Takano's involvement in Jirō's death. Despite his sometimes inappropriate attentions toward Furude Rika, similar to those toward Satoko, the Answer Arcs reveal a protective instinct. He appreciates her willingness to be a research subject to help Satoko but withholds the truth about various murders, including her parents', until the final arc. He does not understand Takano's full plans until Matsuribayashi-hen. In the manga series *Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei*, which takes place 35 years after the original story, Irie is shown participating in a town meeting, suggesting he still practices in Hinamizawa.