Cal Kolter

Kolter, also known as Shoichi Kusanagi (, Kusanagi Shōichi)  in the Japanese version and as Unnamed in LINK VRAINS, is a character appearing in the Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime. Operating out of a food truck called Café Nagi, which doubles as his and Yusaku's base of operations, Kolter is an ally of Yusaku Fujiki in his fight against the Knights of Hanoi, with integral knowledge of the LINK VRAINS.

Appearance
Kolter is a young man with fair skin and grey eyes. His purple hair comes to the base of his neck, and it has multiple small bangs brushed over to hide his forehead, and he also sports a small goatee. Kolter dresses simply, wearing a brown trench coat over a purple hoodie with a bronze zipper and light blue shirt, and teal pants tucked into burgundy boots with prominent black soles.

Personality
Kolter is a rather friendly individual. He's shown to be sympathetic towards Yusaku and hopes he can one day enjoy Dueling again. He also regrets dragging him into the fight against the Knights of Hanoi.

Behind his friendly easy-going nature, Kolter harbors an intense anger and hatred towards the Hanoi Project just like Yusaku, though he doesn't actively show it unless triggered enough, like when he listened to Akira Zaizen talk about the possibility of Skye being kidnapped. Kolter angrily said that Akira doesn't truly know what the horrible trauma he felt was like.

Abilities
Being the owner of a food truck, Kolter is a capable cook; he was seen cooking hotdogs.

Like Yusaku, he's a talented hacker. He was able to get information about SOL Technologies' activities and helped Yusaku capture Ai within the latter's Duel Disk. He was also able to figure out that Skye Zaizen is "Blue Angel". On several occasions, he has hacked surveillance camera's in both LINK VRAINS and the real world alike with little effort. He is noted to routinely erase footage, articles, and pictures of Playmaker in the network.

History
Ten years ago, Kolter's younger brother was kidnapped for the Hanoi Project in the past. Even though his brother was rescued, he still suffered intense PTSD that he never recovered from, prompting Kolter and Yusaku to fight against the Knights of Hanoi, whom they believed to be responsible for the incident, to get revenge.

Kolter swore to find more about the tragedy, and became a hacker to uncover that information. Thus, he abandoned sports as a hobby, and pursued information technologies. Through years of research, he found the culprit in LINK VRAINS: the Knights of Hanoi, who were tracking down Cyberse cards. He logged into LINK VRAINS, and saw as a Knight of Hanoi defeated a guy and deleted his avatar, thus prohibiting him from logging in. Kolter was detected and tried to run away from the Knights of Hanoi. Kolter was chased down to an alley, where he received help from a figure. The Knights of Hanoi could not find Kolter, who climbed across a wall. Kolter, named Unnamed, thanked the figure, Playmaker, who was named Unknown. Unnamed stated they were alike, but Unknown reprimanded him for now knowing anything about the Knights of Hanoi. Unnamed explained he was trying to uncover information involving his brother with an incident that demolished his life. Unknown, who was asked about the Lost Incident, still stated that Unnamed had to get out to value his life, as Unknown logged out.

Kolter, as Unnamed, continued to investigate the incident in LINK VRAINS. One day, however, the Knights of Hanoi cornered him, and just as Unnamed believed he could not get out of this, Unknown appeared. Unknown rushed to his aid, stating Unnamed should still watch over his brother, and the incident was not his fault, either. Unknown decided to fight the knights, and pointed a path where Unnamed could log out. Unnamed did so, leaving Unknown to fight one of the knights. Kolter rushed to the computer, where he watched Unkown Duel the knight. He was amazed that Unknown defeated the knight so easily, and seeing Unknown also investigated the Lost Incident, he remarked that person was the one Kolter needed. To assist Unknown, Kolter opened a portal to let him escape, and told him to come to Café Nagi. Yusaku did so, and bought a hot dog from Kolter. He thanked Kolter for saving him, referring to him as Unnamed. Kolter was shocked that Yusaku was so young, and explained he was investigating the Lost Incident, for his brother had been a victim of that project. He asked for Yusaku's help, for they could save his brother from the suffering. Kolter introduced himself, offering his skills to Yusaku to protect him in LINK VRAINS. Yusaku acknowledged his call and confirmed he'd help Kolter, and introduced himself.

Hanoi
Kolter and Yusaku discussed SOL Technologies and Hanoi's recent movements. Kolter told Yusaku about the Data Storm and that it could help Yusaku enjoy Dueling again. He also mentioned SOL was looking for an AI on the run and that they were planning a full scan of LINK VRAINS to find it. Hearing this, Yusaku came up with a plan to capture the AI and use it as a trump card against Hanoi and closed Café Nagi, despite Kolter protesting that he was expecting customers that night. The two hackers managed to capture Ai into Yusaku's Duel Disk during an attack from the Knights of Hanoi. Kolter was surprised when a Data Storm occurred when "Playmaker" challenged a knight. He was worried when Yusaku was sucked into a Data Storm tornado, and was relieved when Yusaku won the Duel.

Kolter and Yusaku spent the next few days trying to figure out Ai's programming, but Kolter struggled to understand the complicated algorithms that Ai was made out of. He then suggested to come up with a name for the A.I., to which Yusaku decided to name it "Ai", a pun on "eye". He was also impressed that the card data Yusaku obtained from the Data Storm was becoming a physical card. Trying to scan footage from "Ai's" memories caused the Knights of Hanoi's leader to track them down, however Kolter shut down Café Nagi's power before they were found. The next day Kolter gave Yusaku the "Decode Talker" card that had finished materializing before he went to LINk VRAINS to fight a supposed Knight of Hanoi that appeared. When the Knight turned out to be Gore, a program that prevents Playmaker from logging out was activated by SOL Technology. Kolter worked on an escape route for Yusaku, but Yusaku refused to use it. After the Duel ended, Kolter scolded Yusaku for not using the escape route, but also suggested that they could recruit Gore for their fight against Hanoi.

Kolter discovered that the real identity of the famous idol, Blue Angel, is Skye Zaizen, a classmate of Yusaku. He thought about Yusaku meeting Skye so they could get closer to Akira Zaizen in order to get more information about SOL Technologies regarding his brother and Yusaku's memories, however he also doubted the plan would work because of Yusaku's poor social skills. A few days later, he was shocked when Playmaker and Blue Angel began a Duel before getting interrupted by a customer. After the Duel concluded and Skye was put in a coma, Kolter hacked into the hospital's records to find out about Skye's condition. Ai protested that hacking into the hospital was a crime, to which Kolter casually said that hacking already was a crime in the first place. Ai explained that Skye had been infected by a virus from Hanoi's card and the only ones with the anti-virus were Hanoi themselves. "Blue Angel" appeared claiming that she wanted a rematch against Playmaker. Kolter knew right away that she was an impostor and instructed Yusaku to ignore her because it was clearly a trap, but Yusaku went into LINK VRAINS anyways because he felt it was his responsibility to save Skye. Varis's appearance and subsequent manipulation of LINK VRAINS caused Kolter's cameras to go offline, though he was briefly able to use SOL's cameras and later Ghost Gal's. He was displeased when Ghost Gal's camera stopped recording, making him unable to watch anything inside LINK VRAINS.

To watch the Duel, Kolter used the bugs in the Knights of Hanoi's program that created the Data Storm to open a path for Ghost Gal to enter the Data Storm; she had her cameras record the Duel between Playmaker and Varis, allowing Kolter to watch it. Kolter was glad that Playmaker won against Varis and carried him after he logged out since the former took a lot of strain during his Duel. Since Yusaku was interested what became of Skye, Kolter went to show she was recovering. Yusaku fell asleep and Ai commented how lazy he was, but Kolter claimed heroes needed to rest. Ai started bragging, so Kolter went to analyze what kind of program he ate from Varis. Realizing Kolter would look into his "private parts", Ai called him a pervert and refused to say anything. Once Yusaku woke up, Kolter sensed he was thinking what Varis told about Ai. Since they did not know how to prove if Ai was actually alive, Ai claimed it, indeed, was alive. Ai used the program he obtained from Varis to recover his body back. However, Ai's size didn't impress Yusaku and Kolter, who tried to analyze if Ai regained some of his memories, even if Ai wanted them to be excited that he regained his body.

A few days later Emma Bessho ran into Café Nagi, but neither she nor Kolter recognized the other as "Ghost Gal" or "Playmaker's assistant". Emma ordered a coffee and two chilli dogs and mentioned she was interested in Dueling Playmaker, causing Kolter to wonder what kind of Duelist she is. Yusaku noted that Kolter looked exhausted, to which Kolter said that he was tired from spending all night deleting "Playmaker" files and videos that people constantly post on the network. Yusaku offered to help him with the clean up, and in doing so he inadvertently deleted a big scoop that would've revealed everything Playmaker and Kolter know involving Ai and the Knights of Hanoi.

During the night, Kolter called Yusaku to come to his food truck and showed him an encrypted message on an internet forum, sent to him from Ghost Gal. Kolter explained he had created a program to navigate her to enter the Data Storm during the Duel with Varis. The two read how she demanded a Duel from Playmaker, with Ai as wager. Yusaku accepted, stating that she offered a backdoor to SOL Technologies' data bank, and Kolter confirmed that fact, showing she did send a bit of the data as proof. Yusaku asked of Kolter to reply that Playmaker would accept her challenge. Ghost Gal soon entered LINK VRAINS, and Yusaku went to do the same. Kolter wondered if Yusaku would really go and Duel her, since she could've set another trap. Yusaku claimed he had to uncover the truth behind the incident, hoped in the data bank there was some information about Knights of Hanoi, and sensed some determination in Ghost Gal, despite her weaknesses. Kolter watched as Ghost Gal and Playmaker confronted each other, and wished of the latter to acquire the backdoor. Seeing how well Ghost Gal made her moves, Kolter wished that Playmaker would be careful of her. While watching the Duel, Kolter was baffled how complex the Duel was, being unable to predict the outcome. After Playmaker won and obtained the program, Kolter went to analyze it. He believed he could crack the code, and noticed Yusaku was sleeping once more.

Kolter showed his analysis of Ghost Gal's program to Yusaku: the backdoor entrance to the SOL Technologies' mother computer, whose schematics looked like a maze. Kolter and Yusaku were nevertheless impressed by Ghost Gal, who managed to hack and find this. Kolter promised to be ready when the school was over, and Yusaku would be able to infiltrate the network the following night. On that night, Kolter showed the location of the data bank, warning that the path to it was filled with traps. However, he did make countermeasures against them, and Yusaku praised him for such speed. After Yusaku went into the LINK VRAINS, Kolter programmed an artificial device for Playmaker to hold onto to avoid traps, with a rope to prevent him from being detected, and gave directions to Playmaker where to go to. As security traps were set to stop Playmaker, Kolter programmed a "Sphere Kuriboh" as a decoy. After Playmaker passed Area A, Kolter saw there was a Data Storm. He wanted to give up, due to all the danger, but thought the Data Storm wouldn't be as harmful if Playmaker continued on.

After Playmaker defeated Prototype Ai-A, Kolter navigated him to the data bank. Kolter watched as Playmaker confronted Akira, and wished the former would obtain the data. As Akira claimed he would set things straight with the data, Kolter and Playmaker became furious, saying Akira understood nothing about them. Kolter watched the Duel, and was furious to be reminded that his brother was a part of the Hanoi Project. He was also shocked to hear SOL Technologies' data bank contained the name of the mastermind behind the project. Kolter was frustrated to see Playmaker could not attack, and Akira would win the next turn. Later, Playmaker defeated Akira and logged out, Kolter praised him for acquiring the data. The two hacked into Ai, and found out the Hanoi Project's leader was Dr. Kiyoshi Kogami, an employee from SOL Technologies, who alone worked on the project in secrecy. The two concluded SOL Technologies covered up the incident, else the company's reputation would've been ruined. Ai doubted the man could have done this on his own, and thought Akira was involved, but Kolter reminded him Akira, back then, was 16 and was not employed at SOL Technologies. Kolter and Yusaku failed to find the project's goal, but most shockingly, they discovered Dr. Kogami died seven years ago.

With the food truck positioned at the coast, Yusaku was doing research. Kolter invited him for a break, and gazed upon the ocean. Yusaku pointed out Kolter won't get many customers at that place, but Kolter assured him the famous coast was named Stardust Road, known for the luminous plankton that rarely gather at night, and thought the person living near the coast may have seen that. Kolter failed to gather new info from SOL Technologies' data, and Yusaku saw that data from ten years ago was actually deleted. Still, they knew the company was involved, even if Akira knew nothing about the incident before. Kolter felt a bit relieved that Dr. Kogami passed away, thinking their revenge was over. Yusaku reminded him they still didn't know about the goal of the incident, and Kolter still wanted to rescue his brother from darkness, even if they had no clue where to continue. Yusaku still remembered Varis knew some things. Kolter stated Varis was not seen recently, but Yusaku believed he was not the type that would simply disappear.

Another
Inside the van, Kolter showed to Ai and Yusaku the footage of a camera, when a person turned into an Another, which happened six minutes before midnight. Ai noted there were no white hands taking the person into LINK VRAINS. Kolter told them the person had not recovered yet, and showed pictures of more Another patients in the hospitals. Ai and Yusaku knew this was the same accident with Blue Angel, who was infected by a virus. Kolter believed someone wanted people to be turned into mindless people, but has not find out what happened to their LINK VRAINS' avatars. Kolter showed more data, and Yusaku analyzed all of the Anothers were great Duelists with old-type Duel Disks, and all of them were hackers, too. The trio realized Playmaker, or Ai, were the targets. Yusaku reminded the importance of uncovering the truth behind Lost Incident, and as noted by Ai, they had to stop people from becoming Anothers. Kolter showed a list of possible targets, from which the first was Makoto Kimishima. Later, Kolter and Yusaku watched the Knights of Hanoi Dueling people, and turning them into Anothers. Yusaku decided to go into LINK VRAINS, even if Kolter believed he would be at a disadvantage, and Ai wished to feel secure. Surprisingly, they saw "Playmaker" battling the Knights of Hanoi, by stopping their programs and tossing them away from their D-Boards. Dr. Genome confronted "Playmaker", who revealed himself to be Gore. The latter stated he came to save Makoto, and knew Playmaker's identity, which displeased Yusaku and Kolter.

Kolter watched as Playmaker came to Gore. Later, Kolter and Yusaku went to find who was the Another virus' creator. At the van, Yusaku shushed Ai, who was amused to read all the criticism against Kitamura and SOL Technologies. Kolter analyzed that if the Knights of Hanoi took over LINK VRAINS, they'd soon find Playmaker. Yusaku believed they could prevent that by looking into the origins of Anothers virus. The next day, at the van, Kolter woke Yusaku up, reminding he had to go to school, and promised he'd continue working. After Yusaku returned, Kolter found nothing new. Ai believed Kolter gave up, who replied he was just getting started. Yusaku let Kolter rest, who went to cook some fries and cheese dogs. Yusaku and Kolter ate the food, and watched Blue Angel confronting Baira. Kolter and Yusaku analyzed the videos, and the latter saw Baira behind one of the Anothers victims.

Kolter drove his van to the warehouse district. He took a break when Yusaku went to rescue Naoki. One night, fearing he and Yusaku could soon be in danger, Kolter wrote a report, mentioning the Knights of Hanoi were real people. He named the report as "File No. 1007: Kusanagi Report". He noted the prowess of Playmaker and his allies, but feared the countdown to the day their destinies would change had already started. He also wrote that he still thought of his brother, Jin, and wished that the reader of this report would tell that to his brother when they meet him. He was visited by Yusaku and Ai, who felt something big was about to happen.

Kolter served a customer, who told him it would be the last time he would visit the stand, and Kolter suspected the customer would move away. The customer looked briefly at Yusaku, and walked away, with Kolter telling he was also located at the plaza. As the customer walked away, Ai claimed Kolter needed a mascot like him. Kolter replied Ai would make a lame customer, and was interested what was Yusaku doing. Yusaku pointed out the Knights of Hanoi have been purged from LINK VRAINS. Kolter noted Anothers' incident has been resolved, but also reminded Varis was still out there. Ai thought Varis had retreated, but Yusaku doubted that. Suddenly, Yusaku and Ai felt a pulse within LINK VRAINS, and asked Kolter to scan through the network. Kolter worked on scanning, and just as Yusaku and Ai sensed another pulse, Kolter saw the LINK VRAINS infrastructure changed. Kolter tracked Playmaker's activity, and as the pulse was emitted from the network, Kolter was shocked at the readings. Kolter monitored LINK VRAINS, and found a new reading of energy within the network. Yusaku and Ai joined Kolter, and watched hundreds of tentacles wrapped a beam that was shot in the sky and destroyed LINK VRAINS' cyberspace.

Yusaku, Kolter and Ai watched as the tower appeared in LINK VRAINS, causing the cyberspace to be absorbed. Since Yusaku obtained Ghost Gal's data, Kolter promised to look into it. Ai noticed the avatars were being absorbed, and not just buildings or roads - Yusaku knew this was Varis's doing. Kolter analyzed Ghost Gal's data, showing the Tower of Hanoi. Yusaku remembered Varis's words, and deduced if the Hanoi's game was over, the world would be destroyed. Kolter continued analyzing the data, seeing the link between the top, where the LINK VRAINS network was, with the underground erasing system, with the center being the core of the latter system. Ai was shocked, seeing how much data has been absorbed, as Kolter noted that speed has not decreased. Kolter counted six rings would be crafted from this system, one per each passing hour. He realized that once every ring is crafted, a pulse would be sent with high-density data, affecting every machine or program - every piece of technology existing in the world would cease function, as if the world has no computers at all. Ai thought it was safe as long as they did not enter the network, but Yusaku was certain Varis thought of that, and made something that would still erase Ai. Kolter continued his analysis, seeing even devices not connected to the network would also be affected, as an electromagnetic pulse would be sent out, even to erase Ai. While Ai was frustrated, Kolter was overwhelmed, knowing Varis made all of this just to erase an Ignis. The trio watched Kitamura - Akira's successor in SOL Technologies - battling a Knight of Hanoi, named Spectre. They saw how Spectre erased Kitamura, and the former threatened to do this to anyone that dared entering LINK VRAINS. Yusaku swore to stop the Knights of Hanoi, by shutting down the core. Kolter warned him there were no Data Storms in LINK VRAINS, except near that tower.

Kolter watched as Playmaker continued on to the Tower of Hanoi, and noticed Blue Angel Dueling Spectre, who defeated Kitamura earlier. He measured five hours and thirty minutes before the Tower of Hanoi was complete. He was displeased to see Blue Angel lost the Duel against Spectre. He noticed Playmaker made a stop at the tower, and wondered if he met up with the enemy. Since there was no footage inside LINK VRAINS, he decided to give the reporters - the Frog and the Pigeon - the location of the next battle. Kolter was pleased that the Frog and Pigeon arrived to the coordinates he gave them. He was not pleased, however, to see Playmaker Duel Spectre, who defeated Blue Angel. He was surprised to see Akira was captured, and started coding. Kolter watched the Duel, and hoped the item he gave to Yusaku could help Akira escape. Kolter completed the code, causing Akira to vanish. However, the trap was too complex, and the attempt failed, making Kolter curse. Seeing Akira touching the vines and vanishing, Kolter slammed his fists in frustration. He watched Go Onizuka Duel Varis, hoping the former would stop the tower's completion. Kolter watched the Duel until Frog and Pigeon were blown away, thus cutting the video link he had.

Kolter worried about the video link being cut. When the link was restored, he saw Varis and Playmaker on their D-Boards, and thought this was the final Duel to conclude the incident from ten years ago. Since Varis knew more about the incident, for the sake of his brother, Kolter desired Playmaker to defeat Varis, who dared him, with the cost becoming a victim. Seeing debris was falling on Playmaker, Kolter reminded even a single fragment could harm them. He watched the Duel, and realized Varis used the flashing card, "Mirror Force". Kolter continued watching the Duel, and was shocked to see Dr. Kogami's appearance. He also feared Playmaker would be absorbed into the Data Storm when the Duel ended.

Kolter was shocked at the events. Yusaku managed to get out, although strained, as Ai explained the shockwave made them log out. Kolter admitted his shock upon seeing Dr. Kogami alive, and explained his son must've logged out, too. Regardless, he reminded the Tower of Hanoi was still active. Still, Yusaku asked of Kolter to drive to Varis' place. Yusaku explained Varis mentioned Stardust Road and its phenomenon, and explained that Kolter knew a person living close to it must've seen that phenomenon, making Kolter realize they were near Varis' place. During the sunset, the group came to Varis' house, where they confronted Varis. Varis noted Playmaker has found this place. He already knew Yusaku Fujiki's name, and that of Jin Kusanagi's brother, Kolter. Varis introduced himself as Ryoken Kogami. Kolter noted Ryoken was Dr. Kogami's son, but the latter explained his father has just passed away, which made Kolter curse he could not reach to him earlier. Yusaku asked Ryoken, referring to him as Varis, for more information that they had the right to know about. Ryoken confirmed that, so Yusaku asked the reason behind his actions, if the Lost Incident had been about creating Ignis. Ryoken explained the story about Kiyoshi creating Ignis, about its goal, their evolution and the prediction Ignis would become an enemy of the humanity. Yusaku decided to confront Ryoken, while Kolter went to his truck to watch their confrontation.

Kolter ran to his truck, and watching the Duel from his computer, he wished Playmaker luck. He exclaimed Yusaku won the Duels everyone thought he'd lose, and believed in his victory against Varis. He was shocked when Playmaker took damage, lowering his LP to 800. He started questioning Varis' Extra Link, and was shocked to see "Topologic Bomber Dragon" inflicting 3000 LP damage on Playmaker. Playmaker survived the attack, but fell to his knees. Kolter still encouraged him to stand up and fight, and was glad when he did. Kolter was amazed to see Yusaku used Varis' Extra Link to his advantage, and was amazed that he won the Duel. He went to Varis' house to find Yusaku, who watched as Varis left off on a boat. Later, Yusaku, with Ai gone, grabbed his bag. Kolter wanted to drive Yusaku to his house, but he politely refused, and walked away.

Lost Memories
Leaving Yusaku in charge of his food truck, Kolter went to see his brother at a resort, where Jin was recovering. Kolter noted Jin was traumatized by the incident, and with the news of Knights of Hanoi's defeat, Jin's doctor believed his patient calmed down. Kolter sat by a table with Jin, and asked if he could come to live with his brother at the food stand. Jin gasped, as an orange figure came out of a TV and went towards Jin. Kolter was startled, and tried to push the figure, but failed. The figure approached Jin and made him devour data. Kolter managed to stop this, and while Jin fainted, Kolter noticed the orange figure went towards LINK VRAINS. Kolter called Yusaku to report this, and demanded of him to capture this figure. Kolter watched over Jin, who was lying unconscious in his bed.

Kolter returned to his truck, and wished to see the culprit and find more about them, since they attacked his brother. Kolter did not know the reason behind the attack, but Ai noted stealing a person's consciousness through a program was more impressive than the Another virus. Kolter slammed his fist, since that was a powerful enemy. Yusaku nevertheless promised to bring them to justice. Later, at the food truck, Kolter provided Yusaku and Takeru with beverage. He admitted he didn't anticipate Yusaku to bring a friend, who knew about their identities. Still, he welcomed Takeru and Flame. Takeru admitted he was also involved in the Lost Incident, and understood Jin's suffering. Kolter nodded, and asked of them to help in search for the assailant of his brother. Takeru promised, while Flame described Takeru as soft, but a boy capable of Dueling. Kolter showed that Yusaku's enemies fled through the restricted area, and showed a location under LINK VRAINS. Yusaku thought SOL Technologies were involved; Kolter simply stated something was lurking there.

He showed an unknown program, which Takeru did not understand, since that was not his expertise. Yusaku didn't understand it, either, but compared it to the one found in Ai's memories, the Ignis program. Kolter was overwhelmed, while Flame identified it to be the Wind Ignis' program, while Yusaku noted they should check the area out. Before the boys logged into LINK VRAINS, Kolter showed he received data from Ghost Gal, on how to enter the restricted area. Yusaku thought she wanted them to enter the area, but Ai panicked, believing she wanted to lurk them into a trap again. Kolter informed them a gate had appeared, through which the enemy may have escaped. He reminded this genuine info could've been obtained only from SOL Technologies. Yusaku and Kolter deduced this info was from Akira Zaizen, who wanted Playmaker to investigate. However, Kolter also believed Ai, since this could also be SOL Technologies' trap, with bounty hunters in the system. Yusaku nevertheless reminded the importance of investigation, since that was their only info they had on the restricted area. Ai proposed a vote whether to go or not. Much to his dismay, he was outvoted. In addition, Kolter showed a new program to have Playmaker evade the monitoring system, with an emergency escape, inside LINK VRAINS, a program Kolter learned from Ghost Gal.

Before Playmaker went into the restricted area, Kolter warned him if he strayed away from the center, he wouldn't be able to get out and be lost in the data. Playmaker started a Duel with Blood Shepherd in an area, and Kolter told him more about the location. Once Playmaker and Soulburner came through the gate, Kolter noted there was a signal inside the area. Thus, he swore to decipher the Ignis program. At the van, Kolter showed the news about Kyoko Taki's escape from prison. Yusaku knew Varis had been involved, and remembered his words that he'd eventually return. Kolter counted Gore, Bohman, Blood Shepherd and Varis as their enemies, and the fight was tougher than ever. With Takeru by his side, Yusaku told Kolter about Bohman, who apparently possessed the same memories of the Lost Incident as he did. The two believed Bohman has analyzed him to have gained such memories, but the former reminded he was the only clue they had to restore Jin Kusanagi. Since the gate had disappeared, Yusaku apologized to Kolter for lack of progress. Kolter didn't mind that, and showed an extra room for Takeru to log in to LINK VRAINS, and swore to analyze the data from the gate.

Later, Kolter found a trace of the gate, opened on one of the floating islands, in the area that was still in development. Ai cursed Windy's choice, but Flame believed this was a logical move he did. Yusaku and Takeru logged into LINK VRAINS and went towards the gate. However, Kolter was too late to warn them the gate was actually a trap; Blood Shepherd snapped his fingers to suck Playmaker through the trap. Instead, Soulburner bumped into Playmaker and was trapped instead. Playmaker explained to Kolter that Soulburner had been captured by Blood Shepherd, whom Ai referred to as the counting guy. Kolter apologized for not realizing the trap sooner, but was reminded they had to find Soulburner. While Kolter started to decode the program to open the gate, Ai alerted Playmaker of the two bounty hunters. After defeating Kenmochi, Playmaker contacted Kolter, who was imptessed that Blood Shepherd decoded the Ignis program, and used it to create the trap. Despite Ai's skepticism, Kolter swore to help in finding Soulburner. While Kolter did that, Ai and Playmaker went after the second bounty hunter that logged in. Yoroizaka was defeated and was logged out, while Playmaker asked Kolter for the rescue program. Kolter finished writing the program and went to execute it, but found an error. Through an anonymous source, the program was corrected, allowing Kolter to execute it.

Ai was enjoying riding Yusaku's Duel Disk, since Yusaku was at school. Kolter asked of it to come down, to give it something nice. Ai was excited until it was given a banner for Kolter's food truck. Kolter asked of it to make ten laps around the city to show the advertisement, which annoyed Ai. Ai, however, noticed Takeru coming to speak with Kolter. Ai suspected Flame obtained some new information, but by accident, Ai bumped into a pillar and crashed down onto Takeru. Takeru and Flame were astounded by falling Duel Disks, but Ai claimed it simply fell, for in its words, "Ai fly". Flame was motivated by this to have Takeru install an engine into his Duel Disk, so he wouldn't have to pay train fare to return home. Takeru was not amused by the idea, but he greeted Kolter. He wanted to give him a present for rescuing him from LINK VRAINS, but Kolter was modest about that. Ai identified the present to be a burger, and exclaimed one should not bring such food to a food truck. Kolter silenced Ai, reminding it was still important to have a taste of food of his rivals. While Kolter went to grab some coffee, Flame told Ai that Yusaku met up with Naoki for something important. Ai had its doubts about Naoki having something important to say, however.

Takeru, inside the food truck, thanked Kolter for the meal, and was impressed by the equipment. Kolter replied one's abilities were more important than the equipment, and noted Yusaku was a much better hacker. Takeru noted how Kolter and Yusaku were in sync, prompting Ai to ask why did the two even teamed up. Kolter told it was a long tale, but Ai talked him into telling the tale. Kolter, however, warned there was a part involving the Lost Incident, which Takeru wanted to hear, too.

Yusaku Fujiki
While Yusaku doesn't see him as an actual friend, Kolter acts like a loyal friend and a big brother figure to him. He shows sympathy towards Yusaku and hopes he can one enjoy dueling again. They both trust, respect, and care for each other. During their first encounter, Yusaku saved Kolter from the Hanoi and Kolter saved Yusaku in return shortly after. Because of this as well as their shared goal of getting revenge on the Hanoi as well as finding the truth about the Lost Incident, they decided to work together.

Jin
Kolter is a loving big brother to Jin. His primary goal is to save him and support Yusaku on his quest to defeat the Knights of Hanoi. Kolter was willing to risk his life investigating the Hanoi for Jin's sake.

Ai
Kolter is much kinder and friendlier to Ai than anyone else is. He is also quite patient with him as he doesn't get nearly as irritated by him as the rest of the Ignis are.