Reiji Akaba

"I've seen a possible way for Pendulum Summon to evolve even further."

- Reiji revealing a secret of Pendulum Summon.

Reiji Akaba ( Akaba Reiji) is the second CEO of the huge Leo Corporation in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime. He is also a Super Elite Duelist with a genius brain. Like Shun Kurosaki, he is also fighting against Reo Akaba for a unknown reason.

Appearance
Reiji is a tall teenager. He has long chin and normal skin color. He has purple eyes. He wears black tops on both his ears. He wears red spectacles. His hair is colored grey and light grey. He wears a red long scarf. He wears a full-sleeve shirt that is dark blue. He wears pants that white. His shoes are white colored and appear to be normal.

Personality
In general, Reiji has a serious and stoic demeanor but he takes an interest in Yūya Sakaki. He is utterly polite without fail, save rare moments of a loss in composure. Despite his advanced skills, he is not arrogant and is respectful to Yūya's father, Yūshō Sakaki, fiercely defending him when he was insulted in a rare moment of emotion. While he does not consider empathy as beneficial on the battlefield, he does seem to enjoy himself while Dueling, and even requested Yuya to demonstrate Yusho's Entertainment Dueling. He was shown to smile when Yūya exerted his full strength. He later admits that while Yūya's feelings gave birth to a great power, this is not always the case and emotions can still cost one on the battlefield. He is very calm and collected and is also quite and talking only when he needed and when dueling he is shown to think and observe carefully. Despite his declared rivalry with Yūya Sakaki, he does not show any open dislike for him, and in fact defended him from false accusations of attacking Leo Corporation employees; this demonstrates that he may hold a degree of respect for Yūya. Reiji has also mentioned that he does not care very much for his father, Reo Akaba, and he demonstrates an intense dislike of his father's ambitions, given the suffering that they have caused. Reiji is also pragmatic without regard for the actions of potential allies, offering an alliance with Shun and Serena despite their attacks on his students.

He is shown to be highly analytical and a skilled strategist, and claims he only plays games that he knows that he can win. He used the Maiami Championship as a test to recruit Lancers, and came up with a plan to fend off the Fusion Dimension invasion within only a day. He can show less moral side when executing his plans, as he had no problem allowing many Duelists to be sealed in cards during the Battle Royal and only cared about the ones that did survive. During his second Duel with Yūya he showed a cruel indifference and revealed that he considers feelings to be a weakness and a tool to manipulate others, as seen when he used Yūya's feelings towards Yuzu to push him to Duel more efficiently by lying about Yuzu's fate after her disappearance. Despite his cold nature, he seems to care closely about his younger brother Reira and gets along with his mother.

In his youth, Reiji was more reckless, crossing dimensions (though unaware that he had done so at the time) to find his father after he had disappeared and exposing his hiding place to save Serena. He also spoke far more brashly (in Japanese, he referred to himself as "boku" in contrast with his current self who refers to himself as "watashi", which is the polite form), demanding answers from his father.

Etymology
This character's last name, Akaba, means "Red Horse". This character is similar to Seto Kaiba ( Kaiba Seto) from the original/first Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, whose name also has also has 馬 (Uma, Horse), making this character the ARC-V counterpart to him as the similarities of the last names and appearance they share. Reiji means "Zero Child".

Past
Three years ago, Reiji appeared inside Duel Academy via a strange teleportation device. He wandered the halls until he noticed Serena being chased by faculty members. When they cornered her, he watched from atop a wall behind her as she Dueled against them, and was surprised to see that their holograms had mass without an Action Field. He jumped in, Summoning "D/D Cerberus" to defend her. He then offered her his hand, which she took, and pulled her up over the wall. They fled to the harbor, where they were caught by Reo Akaba and several Obelisk Force members, to Reiji's surprise. Serena mentioned that Reo wanted to destroy the Xyz and Synchro Dimensions, mentioning that the attack on the Xyz Dimension was about to start, prompting a confused Reiji to protest that Reo had not mentioned anything to him or his mother. The Obelisk Force squad then took Serena away, and then one of them placed a miniature teleportation device on Reiji's wrist, which sent him back to the Standard Dimension and then self-destructed.

Pre-Maiami Championship
After Yūya Sakaki defeated Strong Ishijima using the Pendulum Summon mechanic, Reiji was briefed on the Summon and on Yūya himself by Nakajima. Intrigued by the Pendulum Summon, Declan asked Silvio to learn what he could about Pendulum Summoning, no matter how small the detail and to acquire them, if possible. Shingo successfully acquired the cards, but wanted to use them to Duel Yūya. As Nakajima protested from where he was watching the Duel, Reiji arrived and assured him that it was all right. He advised Shingo on the use of Yūya's Pendulum Monsters from behind the scenes throughout the Duel. After Shingo's loss, Nakajima stated that they would need to use other means to seize the cards immediately, but Reiji again reassured him that it was all right for now. He looked at a video feed of Yūya, thanking him for putting on a show and murmured Yūya's name.

A week after the first Pendulum Summon, his mother Himika arrived back from a business trip. Reiji wasted little time in informing her about Pendulum Summoning and Yūya Sakaki, and stated that they'd almost achieved a complete understanding of the Summon. He also informed her of Shingo's supposed attack at Yūya's hands. Reiji admitted to being worried that, despite the feat he had performed, Yūya only had a 50% win-loss-ratio, and he was the son of Yūshō Sakaki, who had disappeared three years previously and possibly allied with enemies of Leo Corporation. Later, he observed the Duels between the You Show Duel School and LDS, remaining hidden and concealing his identity beneath a hooded sweatshirt. After Yūya had defeated Hokuto Shijima, Yuzu Hīragi had been defeated by Masumi Kōtsu and Noboru Gongenzaka had tied with Yaiba Tōdō, Himika angrily proposed a tiebreaker between the students that had won; Yūya and Masumi. Before the situation could progress any further, Reiji revealed himself and he stated he would put an end to it.

None of the students present recognized Reiji, his mother commenting that they didn't know how strong he was. Reiji requested that she and their students stay quiet and watch, and that they not cheer any further. Reiji allowed Yūya to choose whichever Action Field he wanted, so Shūzō Hīragi (the only You Show member aware of Reiji's identity) picked Yūya's favorite Field, "Athletic Circus." In exchange, Yūya let Reiji go first. Reiji proceeded to use three "Covenant" Continuous Spell Cards to Fusion Summon "D/D/D Blaze Overlord Temujin" on his turn (this is his first use of a Fusion Monster to be known, and there were no record of him using them during any of his past Duels), then set the rest of his hand, but leaving him apparently guaranteed to take 3000 damage on his next turn. When Yūya attempted to retaliate, Reiji activated another "Covenant" card that would cause him to take another 1000 damage during the next turn. Yūya was able to counter that attack as well, but Reiji was well-prepared, using an Action Card to protect "Temujin." Yūya was given the option to end his turn and theoretically win, but hesitated. Declan observed that Yūya's kindness was causing him to hesitate, though he called it useless in battle. Yūya Set a card, then Reiji negated and destroyed his "Covenant" cards with "Lease Laundering," replenishing his hand in addition. Yūya admitted that he wouldn't have been happy if he'd won from that, as he wouldn't have gotten a chance to show off his father's Entertainment Dueling. Reiji asked if he was referring to Yūshō Sakaki, and Yūya was surprised that Reiji seemed to know his father. Yaiba mocked Yūshō from the sidelines, prompting Reiji to roar at him to be silent. He apologized for his outburst, explaining that he respected Yūshō from the bottom of his heart. Reiji then proceeded to Synchro Summon "D/D/D Gale Overlord Alexander" and Xyz Summon "D/D/D Wave Overlord Caesar" on his next turn, much to the shock of the onlookers. He destroyed all of Yūya's monsters, despite Yūya's use of "Hippo Carnival." Yūya proceeded to Pendulum Summon on his next turn, using his "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" in combination with "Performapal Fire Mufflerlion" and an Action Card to destroy all three of Reiji's monsters. Reiji used the effect of "Caesar" to revive them, though at the cost of taking damage again on his next turn, and then he Tributed them with "D/D/D Resource Management" - bypassing the damage he would have taken - to add his "D/D Magical Astronomer Galilei" and "D/D Magical Astronomer Kepler" to his hand - Pendulum Monster prototypes that he proceeded to activate on his next turn. He congratulated Yūya after Yūya claimed that he looked forward to seeing whatever surprises Declan had in store, Reiji asking Yūya to confirm whether Pendulum Summoning was unique with his own eyes. Reiji then Pendulum Summoned three "D/D/D Hell Armageddon the Cruel End Overlord", destroying all of Yūya's monsters again and reducing him to 350 Life Points, also discovering, to his surprise, that destroyed Pendulum Monsters were sent to the Extra Deck instead of the Graveyard. Yūya demanded to know where Declan had acquired Pendulum Summoning, but Reiji refused to answer. Yūya Pendulum Summoned his destroyed monsters back, along with a new one, "Performapal Partnaga," and attempted to destroy all three "Hell Armageddons", but the destruction of one simply activated the effects of the others, which gained the ATK of the destroyed "Hell Armageddon." Before Reiji could counterattack, his Pendulum Monsters' effects appeared and reduced their Scales, destroying his remaining "Hell Armageddons." He burst out laughing in surprise, realizing that Pendulum Summoning was not complete and that he had seen the possibility for further evolution in Pendulum Summoning. His mother then called out his name after hearing about the disappearance of Marco and Nakajima briefed Reiji on what had happened. Reiji gave Yūya the win, and when asked, told Yūya his name before departing. Arriving back at LDS, he learned that Marco had been involved in a Duel with an Xyz user. As they'd been with Yūya at the time, and Yūya had not demonstrated the capability, this ruled him out as the culprit. Reiji ordered his men to search for Marco after being shown Marco's cards and Duel Disk.

Following this, Reiji anonymously requested that Yūya be allowed into the Junior Youth Championship. Yūya, however, declined, and won his first Duel of the required four to gain entry normally. Nakajima later informed Reiji of this, and Reiji smiled, commenting that it seemed he'd done something unnecessary, that he should have expected it of the originator of Pendulum Summoning, and he asked if Yūya had Pendulum Summoned and if there was any change. Nakajima replied that there wasn't and admitted that he was bothered by elevated levels of Fusion Summoning that were occurring. The readings were stronger than normal, and Reiji compared it to the abnormally strong Xyz Summonings that had occurred recently. He ordered it to be monitored. His mother later approached him with two cards that had been sent anonymously to LDS that morning depicting Marco and Tio, one of LID's aces. Declan mused that the previous day, another strong Xyz Summon had been detected, and deduced that the two had been sealed inside the cards, though this was the first time he'd witnessed such a phenomenon. Though Marco and Tio were alive, they couldn't be saved with LDS's current resources. He commented that this did raise one question - there had been there Xyz-related attacks, yet the first victim - Shingo - hadn't been sealed in a card, suggesting two perpetrators. Before they could continue their talk, Mr. Sawatari barged into the office furiously, asking why they were loafing around. Despite Mr. Sawatari not having an appointment, Reiji acknowledged that the rumors of the third attack were true. Mr. Sawatari angrily asked why they weren't taking action to catch the perpetrator, pointing out that his son had testified that Yūya Sakaki had attacked him. Reiji asked if Shingo was still saying that, and Mr. Sawatari admitted that he hadn't seen Shingo since he'd left the hospital, but hadn't heard Shingo say differently. He asked why they were letting Yūya run free, despite Himika wanting to handle it herself, and wanted to inform the police. Rising from his chair, Reiji warned him that it was under investigation. Mr. Sawatari insisted that Yūya was the perpetrator, but Reiji forcefully told Mr. Sawatari that Yūya was no criminal. He vowed to catch the real criminal, until then, he'd like Mr. Sawatari to watch quietly. After Mr. Sawatari had left the office in a huff, Reiji ordered Nakajima to raise the level of alert in the inner city and analyze the cards of Marco and Tio to save all of the city's Duelists. He later learned that the strong Fusion Summoning readings were continuing, and mused that the person using them must be winning as well.

Later, Reiji practiced Pendulum Summoning again, this time with the effects of his cards updated, and he successfully Summoned all three "Hell Armageddons." Imagining himself facing Yūya and "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon", Reiji reached for his next card, but before he could continue his move, he was advised to stop, as they had cleared the day's benchmarks and the experiment was a success. Nakajima congratulated him, stating that now they were one step closer to creating even more of the Leo Corporation's own Pendulum Cards. Despite this, Reiji considered his own inferior in terms of activation energy output to Yūya's Pendulum Monsters, believing them to be incomplete and unusable in the tournament. He gave Nakajima until the tournament to fix the problem, as they could not underestimate their competition, no matter where it came from.

When Nakajima was complaining about using students to draw out the Duelist that had been attacking their students, Reiji arrived and ordered them to continue monitoring them, confident that whoever it was would show themselves. He witnessed Shun admit to attacking the LDS students and the start of his Battle Royale against Masumi, Yaiba and Hokuto. When Shun defeated all three of the students and he ordered the other LDS students that had arrived to bring them their boss, Reiji replied that he was right there if Shun wanted him, and his employees parted as Reiji walked towards the Xyz-user. Reiji explained to Shun that he was the current Leo Corporation President, and Shun immediately challenged him to a Duel. Reiji requested to know why Shun was attacking them. Though Shun refused to answer, Reiji had deduced from his actions and Masumi's prior testimony that Shun was trying to rescue his comrades by using Reiji as a hostage. Shun confirmed that his attacks had been to lure Reiji out to persuade Reo Akaba to release his comrades. Reiji claimed that he doubted his father valued him that much, but agreed to Duel Shun under conditions: Shun must enter the Junior Youth Championship and fight certain Duelists for him, informing him in a roundabout manner of Sora Shiun'in, a Fusion user, and Yūya, the user of the Pendulum Summoning that Shun would likely be unfamiliar with. Reiji explained that he too wanted to fight against his father and clarified that if Shun won, he could do whatever he wanted. He departed with his men afterwards. Nakajima later confirmed that Yūya had successfully entered into the competition and that Shun had been wiped from Masumi, Hokuto and Yaiba's memories, and entered into the Junior Youth tournament. Reiji mused that all that was left was to see how much power Shun would display, and he looked through his Lancers Selection document, muttering that the same question applied to the rest of the Duelists in the folder - which of them would become the lances to fight for their world?

Maiami Championship
At the beginning of the tournament, Reiji made one of his first public appearances in a while, much to the delight of his fans. He, his mother, and Reira Akaba watched the opening proceedings, observing the entry of both Yūya and Shun, and after Yūya's brief mess-up and subsequent speech regarding Yūshō Sakaki, Reiji led the applause. He watched Reira's first Duel against Ayu Ayukawa, and congratulated his little brother after he won. Before Shingo's Duel with Yūya, Reiji gave him his new "Yosenju" cards, including some Pendulum Monsters, and taught him an anti-Pendulum combination that would return Pendulum Cards to the Deck. He monitored the Summoning, which was successful, as was Shingo's use of the technique. He was pleasantly surprised when Yūya Fusion Summoned using a Pendulum Monster as the Material, pleased that Yūya had already evolved so far. After Shingo's lost, he ordered Nakajima to retrieve his Pendulum Cards and analyze them for mass-production.