Keith Kazama Flick

 is a one of the protagonists in  The Beginning. Eight years ago, eight on a winter day, his sister, Erika Flick, was murdered by someone, causing him to develop depression and eventually retire from the police force. During that day, he is called out of retirement by his old friend Eric Toga to help the R.I.S. criminal investigation force to track down the serial murderer known as "Killer B".

Personality
Initially, Keith gives the impression of a lazy and absentminded genius, however he is able to accurately calculate and predict his target's intentions and next moves, and then moves in advance.

Keith is also skilled in math to the point that he is able to create portraits out of math formulas. He can also be obsessed such as when he filled his entire room with his equations.

Keith is short-tempered and prefers his privacy. Even though he has a habit of running off by himself during a case, he knows when he needs help although he always has trouble asking for it. He also likes Chicken Gumbo, a particular dish that uses spices from Hols Island.

He was deeply traumatized when his adopted sister Erika was killed, and now seeks to get justice against her killer.

Appearance
Keith has dark teal eyes and brown shaggy hair. He wears glasses and has a scar running from the bridge of his nose and under his right eye. His usual attire consists of an unbuttoned jacket over a white button-up and undersized slacks that don't entirely cover his ankles.

Keith originally has a messy, shaggy mop top haircut. After his official transfer and first case with RIS Unit 1.2, he cuts his hair shorter and shaves down his beard. He then reverts back to his shaggy look after the Erika Flick case is over.

Heath Kazama Flick
Heath Kazama Flick is Keith's father. From what can be seen during the series, the two shared a friendly father/son relationship, with Keith even showing respect for his father.

Erika Flick
Erika is Keith's adopted younger sister. They were apparently close when she was alive, with Gilbert Ross suggesting that Erika had feelings for Keith.

Keith was deeply traumatized when his sister was murdered and became obsessed with finding her killer. He eventually gets over her death when he takes down her killer, Gilbert Ross.

Gilbert Ross
Keith and Gilbert have been friends for a very long time. They understand each other pretty well and Keith describes their relationship where "Gilbert creates puzzles and he solves them."

At the start of the series, Keith suspected that Gilbert was his sister's killer, but still acted like usual with him. Their friendship turns antagonistic when Keith starts actively pursuing Gilbert as a suspect in Erika's murder and Gilbert in turns seeks to have Keith kill him, so that Gilbert can escape his painful existence and be reborn in Keith's memories.

Koku aka Killer B
Keith and Koku's fates are both tied together due to a certain event. When Keith was younger, he deciphered and solved mystery of Jet Black Epitaph which allowed his father, Heath Kazama Flick, to create Koku. After Professor Kazama is killed during the attack on the Jaula Blanca Research Institute, Heath's notebook finds its way back to Keith who uses it to track down Koku to Cremona.

At the beginning of the series, Keith is actively trying to find Killer B (who he knows is Koku) to get his help on resolving his sister's murder. After Jean's murder, Koku saves Keith from being arrested and Keith in turns offers to give him information regarding Yuna, if he meets him at Heianji Temple. When they meet at Heianji Temple, Keith earns Koku's trust by revealing everything that he knows about Jaula Blanca and the experiments conducted there, as well as by saving his life from Minatsuki.

After Koku and Keith go into hiding, the two form a mentor-student bond with Keith acting as Koku's mentor and informant. When Lily discovers them, Keith lies to her that Koku is his lost brother to avoid her from getting involved, but eventually tells her the truth. After Keith tells Koku about where he can find Yuna and how to get there, Keith and Koku work independently to take down the ringleaders of Market Maker for the duration of the case.

After the case is over, Keith allows Koku and Yuna to live with him.

Lily Hoshina
When Keith first met Lily, he noticed a distinct resemblance to not only his adopted sister Erika, but to himself too. Noticing the resemblance, Keith opts to keep Lily at a distance, partially because he thought she was annoying and partially because he didn't want to get close out of fear of putting her in danger.

As they continued working together, Keith develops an appreciation of her skills, even though he still finds her pushy and annoying.

Quotes

 * (To Ericka) “I loved you with all my heart... I’ve never been good at expressing how I’m feeling out in the open, but what I was truly afraid of was... falling apart by putting it into words. I was terrified to say it because I was your brother! An older brother isn’t... he isn’t supposed to feel such things for his little sister. They’re supposed to protect them. Those kinds of feelings shouldn’t exist.”

Trivia

 * Keith is an Scottish male name that means "large woods or forests."


 * Kazama is a Japanese name that means "Wind or while the wind is blowing."