The characters were initially called Juro and Risto in the original written story. Juro is actually a Japanese name, as his heritage was supposed to tie into another character Kalwa met while traveling in Japan. Risto’s name was mostly a fictional name with no real meaning.

Unlike the character “Reko” today, Juro did not actually make physical contact with Kalwa until the written final act. Juro was somewhat of a social outcast who simply wanted to be there for Kalwa in her “time of loneliness,” but never actually introduced himself. Similar to Reko he was a tech genius as well as a thinker. Juro was actually suspicious of A-Tech’s activities and was determined to find out what really happened to Kalwa. Thus his role though out the series was get information (and reveal it the reader on A-Tech.

Risto was Juro’s partner, while Juro would do the hacking and research, Risto actually would do the sneaking, often times creeping into A-Tech and look for clues. Thus the two of them were simply the private investigation team. Risto was also much braver and daring than Zack today (or at least for now anyway).