Hideki Sohta (English: [ˈsəʊ̯ɾə], Japanese: [so̞ːta]) is the former teacher of Aki's class. He was born December 6th, 1986. He is known by his students to be a "kind and caring" teacher, when in reality this is false. He is described as a suave and handsome man. He seems to have a hand fetish as well. Sohta wears a suit as his work uniform and parts his sand colored hair. While he was still attending high school, Sohta was considered unattractive and was bullied for it in school. He is referred to as Kurata instead of Sohta in Misao: Definitive Edition.
History
Before the Curse
The first we see of Sohta is him scolding Aki after she's caught daydreaming and staring out the window instead of paying attention in class. After his reprimanding, he goes back to teaching the class and Aki's classmates giggle at her for getting in trouble.
The Curse Begins
Like the others, Sohta was mysteriously transported to another location when Misao enacted her curse. It turns out that he was unfortunately teleported to the Class 2-A locker, which was locked from the outside and effectively trapping him there until the player finds him and lets him out. Once free, Sohta will head to the Infirmary and can be found there with Ayaka after.
Finding Misao's Dismembered Parts
When the player comes to the Infirmary, Sohta can be found tending to a distressed and traumatized Ayaka. He will say that Ayaka had been attacked by a monster and asks Aki to go to the Staff Room to find a tranquilizer. Unfortunately, upon Aki's return, she finds Ayaka dead on the floor and Sohta wounded, to which he tells the player that it was the monster yet again, but he couldn't save her. Shortly after, Sohta gives Misao's arms to Aki.
Ending
Once Aki finds all of Misao's body parts, he/she learns from Onigawara that one more person must be killed in order to end the curse; either Sohta or Tohma must die. Should the player decide to kill Sohta, Aki will bash him with the bat, leading to the good ending of the game, otherwise sparing him leads to the bad end.
After making the final sacrifice and offering Misao's body parts, thus breaking the curse, Aki learns from a flashback that Sohta appeared to comfort Misao after being bullied by Yoshino. This, however, directly contradicts an earlier statement he said to Aki, in which he had said he didn't have time to listen to Misao and had ignored her. Misao tells him that she'd had her heart broken and that she was crying to herself in the corner of the bathroom. The older man replies that he himself had been like that once, but Misao had found that hard to believe, complimenting on his gentle and popular nature. After comparing his own past to her, but remarking that she was much more 'charming', Sohta then hugs her from behind and starts touching her hands, causing her to become confused and uncomfortable. In response, Misao pushes him away and backs herself into a corner, but Sohta continues to pursue her as the scene fades. It is assumed that Sohta rapes her. Off screen, Misao screams and the teacher yells back, outraged at Misao's rejection. When the screen comes back, Misao is dead, with Mr. Sohta standing over her body. He then drags her dead body into the bathroom and holds out a saw, dismembering her body.
If Tohma is killed instead, Sohta is released from the curse and discovers that Aki learned the truth. Aki begs to not be killed and tries to run, only for Sohta to catch up to him/her and the screen fades black; he presumably kills Aki to silence him/her. In the next scene, Sohta is seen comforting a girl named Miho who got into a fight with her friend and offers to take her home, which she agrees.
Truth
Sohta's Grave
If you touch Sohta's grave in Truth mode, you'll first find yourself in Sohta's room. You'll learn on the computer that he was happy to be loved by all, but it was actually a "mask" he wore that everyone loved. Afterwards, you'll see he apparently hates that "everyone goes on" about his appearance. In a flashback of his featuring Ayaka and some of her friends, Sohta eavesdrops on them and hears them go on about how great-looking he is. He walks away, frustrated, but after he leaves, Ayaka's classmate says that Sohta is kind and reliable, and his biggest charm is that he is not all appearance.
Back at Sohta's house, it is revealed that Sohta was considered unattractive in his high school years. He used to get bullied because of his appearance. Every time he made contact with something, the others refused to touch it afterwards, even if they owned it.
We learn that later on, he took a wounded cat to a veterinarian who told him it couldn't be saved, so Sohta dug a tomb for this cat.
He used to have a friend at that time named Takano. He had a crush on her, and she didn't mind being teased about being around Sohta. They met daily but didn't talk a lot, and they were happy that way. However, when he confessed his love for her, she refused harshly before apologizing. Takano didn't want to get that close to Sohta, but was feeling pity towards him. She told him they should stop meeting. Sohta was angry. The sprite action leaves some doubt, either Sohta was trying to kill Takano, or was going to rape her. He was then stopped by a teacher.
Aki then follows Sohta deeper into the house, where he is slashing a dead body (it is unclear whose it is) while lamenting about how no one accepted him as an adolescent. Things turned around when he "changed his face"; everyone loved him, but Sohta says that everyone only loved him for only his face. Aki then comforts him, saying that all his students love their kind and reliable teacher, and that she loves him for who he is and what he is now. Sohta is surprised, and Aki gives him a hug. After this, Aki is transported back to the other world, where the others' graves are.
He doesn't reincarnate, but the cat he couldn't save does. Aki remarks, "This kitty was happy being cared for in its last moments..." Another theory was that he was reincarnated into the cat he had loved.
Ayaka's Hairpin
In Truth, touching Ayaka's Hairpin next to Sohta's grave reveals how Ayaka really died. While she was rummaging through Sohta's love letters in his desk, she discovered Misao's arms. Sohta then catches her in the act and chases her to the infirmary. However, before he can silence her, Aki walks in; Sohta claims that Ayaka was attacked by a monster and convinces him/her to get a tranquilizer from his desk. This gave him enough time to murder Ayaka in cold blood, then inflict a self-injury to make it look like they were attacked by a monster.
Relationships
Ayaka - As Sohta was popular with his class, he was also being loved by girls. Ayaka included. She is one of Sohta's students. He received a few love letters from her. It is revealed in Truth that Ayaka didn't get killed by a monster but by Sohta himself, after she discovered Misao's arms in the bottom drawer.
Aki - Aki is one of Sohta's students, and one of the few who doesn't always listen to his lectures. She apparently is one of Sohta's favorite students, but it could have been a lie to avoid a few doubts from her about him.
Misao - He has seen her before she died. Apparently she had to talk about something, but Sohta was too busy to listen to her. It was revealed in the ending that Sohta actually had some time to talk to Misao, before trying to seduce her. Misao, obviously terrified, turns down Sohta's love. In response to her rejection, Sohta lashes out and rapes her, before killing her and scattering her body parts in various places around the school.
Takano - In Truth, one of Sohta's classmates and his only friend when he was in high school. She used to be Sohta's "protector", before he confessed his love to her. She then rejects him, lashing out violently before slightly apologizing. He breaks down, again with "Why does no one accept me?!" Whether he tries to rape or attack her is unclear, but he is stopped by a teacher.
Rec Room
Below are the descriptions for Mr. Sohta you can view in the Rec Room at the end of Truth.
About Sohta
"First of all, clowns. Clowns are great. Clowns give me life. I like clowns."
A mysterious, suave teacher. But he's really a murderer with a dark past... Sohta was suspicious from the start. Maybe lots of people predicted he was bad news. Yeah...yeah, probably. This doesn't really impact the story, but Sohta wasn't ever attacked because the evil spirits were too scared to come near. And that's because Misao feared Sohta. Misao and the spirits are linked in a sense. Not completely one and the same, as they attack people she has nothing against...Aki killing Sohta was unexpected to Misao. Maybe Misao thought sacrificing Tohma would make for a happier outcome. By killing Tohma, he'd be hers forever. But killing Sohta puts him in a grave forever. Either way, Misao's spirit is saved. However, sacrificing Tohma, it's likely Misao's spirit would never move on.
Sohta Design Secrets
Making the teacher a villain was planned from the start. He was just plain kind from the outset, but soon took on a mysterious air. To be honest, his hair is designed like a young detective from some foreign TV drama.
Trivia
- If you open the locker when Sohta is inside and you are covered with blood, he kills you thinking you're a monster. The same thing occurs when visiting him in the infirmary when bloodied.
- Sohta has a hand fetish. Ayaka believes this is a rumor, which is confirmed to be true when Sohta appears to comfort Misao.
- Sohta frequently mentions that his face is "fabricated" or "fake". And that if he would change it he would become accepted. This could imply that Sohta applied plastic surgery to his face.
- Sohta's name (颯太) means 'suddenly' or 'smoothly'.
- Sohta's name in the Japanese version is "Kurata".
- He has similarities to Yoshikage Kira from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable. Kira is a serial killer who uses his stand Killer Queen to create explosions and blow women up, leaving nothing but their hands remaining.
- He has a fascination/fetish for hands much like Sohta's fetish. He cut out the hands of a Mona Lisa portrait and hung it in his room when he was young because he was sexually attracted to them. He can be seen taking the hands out for formal dates, such as picnics in the park.
- At one point, he uses another stand user's abilities to change his face in order to hide from his pursuers. The plastic surgery performed on Sohta's face could possibly be a reference to this.