emperoroftheschool | (no subject)

While he tends to come off as fairly proper in tone, he doesn't use honorifics for anyone but the teachers, instead simply calling them by their family names.
Ryo is the very picture of the "cool emperor of our school, strongest ever" that a lot of people think of him as. He's calm, collected; he shows his emotions easily, whether he's disappointed or happy, but he isn't easy to rile and while he might hold grudges, he doesn't let them bleed over into unrelated things. Most importantly, he's the type of person that respects everyone unless given reason otherwise, especially his opponents, feeling that the connections between two opposing duelists is a bond all its own, if a temporary one. He also holds a deep respect for his deck and the cards within it, feeling that even if a card is retired, replaced, or traded, you should still feel grateful for what you got out of it.
These traits are what earned him the nearly zealous adoration of Duel Academia, as well as the nickname "Kaiser" -- though the latter in part was also granted because his dueling style is fairly brutal and merciless, as Ryo doesn't generally tend to "hold back" on people.
Ryo is a stern big brother, and one that doesn't tend to sugar-coat instructions or reprimands. However, he isn't an asshole, either, and doesn't just flat out insult people or tell them they did it wrong and try to make them guess. When someone does something and he is either asked or feels the need to correct them, he bluntly states what they did wrong, what they could have done, a way to fix it, etc.; basically, pointing out the flaw and then helping them to figure out how not to repeat it.
The major example of this is in the past with Sho's duel with the bully and "Power Bond". Ryo still stopped the duel and bribed the bully, but when scolding Sho, he asked if Sho had some sort of plan to deal with the bully's facedown, if he had any idea of what to do to deal with Power Bond's effect if Sho didn't win that turn. Sho, of course, did not, and Ryo pointed that out as the reason why Sho simply wasn't ready to use it -- his strategy was lacking and he just wasn't a skilled enough duelist yet.
Though he usually keeps a distance from Sho in school, it isn't out of a lack of interest or love -- indeed, he loves his brother extremely dearly and is very interested in seeing him succeed. His own reputation, however, means that any overt favoritism -- perhaps even affection -- might end up used against Sho. Even if not, however, his brother is a timid person, and Ryo fears that if he did show his feelings, Sho would never be shoved onto his own feet enough that he could claw his way out of the rut he was in and become confident and independent. He's there if Sho needs him, he'll offer him the same support as others, and he'd protect his brother with his life... but he doesn't want to be the cause of Sho's failures, and so (perhaps unwisely) tries to prevent that by acting somewhat distant.
Once Sho begins to stand on his own, however, Ryo feels more comfortable being more overtly affectionate, and can't help doing that when either he or Sho are sick.
He tends to be fairly quiet, keeping a lot of his thoughts to himself, and also tends to surprise people when he acts on said thoughts that no one else has heard.
He can sometimes be adorably kind, not liking to insult people's things or be too critiquing when he isn't asked (such as when he made up a word to avoid having to tell Judai his dorm sucked, then promptly ignored when Sho asked if that was real or not).
He has one major secret, though, and that's something that he only shows in private with a romantic partner (meaning essentially no one has seen it) -- Ryo is (sexually) extremely sadistic, enjoying blood, cutting, even strangling his bed partner. He genuinely is a good person, kind and sweet if very strict, which is why he buries the secret down extremely deep, because the type of things he can do -- wants to do -- would extremely unnerve or horrify people if they knew. He doesn't feel personally ashamed of this part of himself, but at the same time, he knows it's no part that people would want, so he makes sure to keep it sealed where no one can find it. This is also why he never responds to advances made on him by anyone, of any gender -- were he to date, he knows this would inevitably have to come out, or the relationship would fizzle out and be a waste of time.