Don't worry guys Kawase is actually really happy and at peace in this image I promise you it just looks like he isn't but he is I promise he told me and everything
Someone please tell me why there isn't a fanfic about Hanamaki having hanahaki disease called "Hanamaki? More Like Hanahaki" because I find this to be a travesty
Matsumaki getting married but only because they don't see themselves marrying anyone else but their bro. If you ask them why they got married they'll say that it's easier to just split rent (even though they've already been living together before getting married).
It's time to have my existential crisis and write something.
This time I wrote some thoughts on Hanakawa, and how plausible their relationship actually is. If you like Hanazawa x Kawase, please consider reading!
While I liked the idea of Hanakawa ever since I finished playing the Minakami route of Hashihime, I admittedly struggled to see them together at first.
This was because of how indifferent Hanazawa seemed toward Kawase. I thought, 'does this guy like Kawase at all'!? My feelings were exacerbated when I saw Hanazawa let Kaoru kill Kawase in the Kawase route, and even more when Hanazawa killed Kawase directly in the Hanazawa route. I thought 'this guy totally doesn't care about Kawase'!!
But then I thought about it over time. When Hanazawa runs into Kawase by chance at the university, he chooses to still come and see him. Kawase tells Hanazawa about his desire to help him. Hanazawa seemingly accepts, and then they visit each other. Hanazawa also introduces Kawase to Hakase, and tells him about the hashihime. This shows that Hanazawa must trust Kawase, and somewhat closely. Hanazawa said he liked Hakase because he was a 'dreamer' too. It seems Hanazawa fears being made fun of or being seen as impractical. But he still opens up and shows his dreamer side to Kawase. This means he must have trusted that Kawase, despite being abrasive and mocking, would not mock his dreams he shared with Hakase.
It's at this point that Kawase asks Hanazawa to kill Ikeda, because he fears the old man is going to prey on Katou. Even though Hanazawa would obviously be charged and incarcerated for murder, Hanazawa trusts Kawase's word and goes to kill Ikeda. Hanazawa even cleans up the body for Kawase because he knows he cannot. Effectively, he has trusted Kawase's word far enough to risk serious consequences of his own, and I cannot picture him doing this for someone he didn't care about.
He's rather relaxed around Kawase, smoking a pipe around him. He also reprimands Kawase a few times when he is being mean to Tamamori. I think part of this is because he has been cast into the role of 'big brother' of Kawase's life. Because of the culture surrounding them, he likely thinks it necessary to protect Kawase, but also to reprimand him, more like the role of a parent than the way siblings in the West might act.
But how much of these feelings could be deeper feelings? I asked myself this question countless times. I've come to the conclusion that I think it's very likely that Hanazawa's feelings for Kawase run deeper, but I think he is wholly incapable of recognizing them.
Hanazawa is someone that does things he initially thinks are for the better, and then seems to regret them when those around him react negatively to how he acts. For example, in his own route, he rapes Tamamori in an attempt to transfer the power of the hashihime to himself. But he later seems to fall in love with Tamamori. In his post-game story, he seems unable to articulate or distinguish his feelings, drowning in them. He feels immense guilt because Tamamori is his 'younger brother', and he still falls into sin repeatedly with him. He has been sent to prehistoric times by Tamamori so they can be punished together for their sins. But in the end, he still takes care of Tamamori, who is incapable of surviving in prehistoric times without his help.
Hanazawa doesn't really say he loves Tamamori like how the other characters do. To a lot of people, he probably seems like a metallic robot completely without emotion. I think he is easy to read that way, but I see a lot of panic in the way he acts. He feels like he has to do something, then he does something rash, and then he ends up regretting it. It seems like he does this a lot. Also in his post game story, Hanazawa mentions wanting to die and thinking about ending his life, seeming to just want to escape from feelings he can't put a name to.
At the end of the day, I actually think I like Hanazawa better because he raped Tamamori and killed Kawase. It makes him a much more interesting character. He claims again and again that he won't rest until he saves everyone, but he seems unable to even know how to save just one person. In reality, I think this is because he has taken such a task upon himself that it overloads his senses. He doesn't know how to do what he feels like he must do, and so he- like I said earlier- panics.
This is the opposite of how Kawase acts most of the time. Kawase is indifferent to most people and most things, not wanting to save anybody. And yet, if Kawase has to do an impossible task, such as killing his own father, he does it coolly without any seeming anxiety. And I think Kawase can feel anxiety (he smokes more when he is anxious and feels bad, and there are times in the game when he smokes a lot), but Kawase does not seem to feel anxiety in the way that Hanazawa does. When Kawase is put under pressure, even if he is anxious, he is still able to think clearly. I think this is probably what makes him so vicious in the ways the others are not. He's not the kind of character that panics even when faced with death.
I don't know what Adelta intended for Hanazawa, but to me, it almost seems like on some level he has issues with adrenaline. Because they wanted him to be masculine, this is actually very interesting trait because I think a lot of masculine men struggle in this way. I think he probably is not as suitable as a soldier as he thinks he is, because he can't keep his head clear, but that also arguably makes him much more human.
So, could Hanazawa and Kawase be together? I also think I should mention the issue that comes from Kawase feeling like he brought about Hanazawa's father's death, and how Hanazawa probably does (on some level) blame Kawase for what happened. These are no small matters, but even in game it seems like Hanazawa and Kawase are somewhat enmeshed with each other. I would argue that they are codependent upon each other, once they are reunited with each other. If Hanazawa was so infuriated that 'Kawase killed his father' that he resented him, I'm not sure he would have killed Ikeda for him. Maybe as an adult he has come to realize that the events of Kawase's childhood were not really in his control.
Kawase's affection for Hanazawa is more obvious than the other way around. Tamamori insists that Kawase likes Hanazawa because he actually listens to him and treats him with respect when he doesn't do this for anyone else. Kawase, at the very least, looks up to Hanazawa and wants to follow him into the army. He started shaping his future life around Hanazawa even before they met again- he attended medical school for him (and also for Doctor Umezawa, arguably) without even having been in touch with him.
But I think Hanazawa's own affection is harder to read. But honestly, Hanazawa's affection for Tamamori is just as hard to read, and they have an official route together in the game. I think this is because Hanazawa is written to be extremely masculine, most men are pressured to not show love or affection through words.
Hanazawa seems to care for others as if they are dependent upon him. He wants them to be dependent upon him. In his post game story, he says, '…The real me was an idiot who loves adventure who wants to be relied on, just like Tamamori said.' This line is significant because, first of all, Tamamori is having to explain Hanazawa's own feelings to him when Tamamori himself is said to be as dense as a cinderblock. And secondly, it is significant because it comes back to what Hanazawa really wants. He wants people to need him. He's lonely and feels like he can't connect to others without having a reason to connect with others. If he says 'Well, I HAVE to protect Kawase because it's what my dad wanted. He's basically my younger brother.', then it gives him an excuse to cling to his friends, which gives his emotions a reason for existing. And he can't NAME the emotion, because that is something he struggles with SO much.
So I think that Hanazawa does like Kawase and Tamamori, (and Hakase too, but their relationship is easier because it doesn't have a dark history), but I think he doesn't understand these feelings. I also think it's probably significant that Hanazawa is the only character in the game that is engaged to a woman he met by chance. Minakami and Kawase are both VERY aware of their own feelings and others' feelings, so they never talk about women, or joke about being interested in women like that. Hanazawa, who is not able to recognize his own feelings, gets engaged to a woman because he knows it is expected of him. But he never mentions her and never thinks about her- because she is not the one on his mind. She was just an expectation he had to fulfill, like a checkbox on a list (poor lady).
I hope that after the Minakami route, Kawase urges Hanazawa to break things off with his fiancé for everyone's sake. He won't be happy married to her, but he clearly doesn't know it. Because Kawase is so in tune with others feelings, I think he would recognize this and I would like to think he suggested that Hanazawa 'try being a single man, and focus on the army'.
But it's also for these reasons that I think between Hanazawa and Kawase, Kawase would almost HAVE to be the one to initiate a relationship with him. How he does it, or why he does it, is up to imagination. And trust me, I have a WILD imagination! What if Kawase wants to take care of Hanazawa's masculine needs after he suggests breaking things off with his fiancé? <- Bad idea.
Of course, Hakase might also encourage Hanazawa to go after Kawase. Or maybe Hakase would encourage Hanazawa to go after himself!?! But I just think Hanazawa lacks the emotional intelligence to be able to recognize any feelings he might have for anyone, so he needs to have someone put the idea in his head for him.
However, when the idea gets into his head, watch out! I think he's the kind of person that wouldn't know how to act to show his feelings, so he would either do something incredibly forceful, like trying to kiss him suddenly, or incredibly embarrassing, like confessing his love all at once with an embarrassingly big bouquet of flowers. He wouldn't know how to act at all. I think he's kind of 'adorable' in that way. He's kind of clueless and ham-fisted.
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Anyways, I hope these ideas spoke to anyone. I've actually written a few Hanakawa pieces, but I never posted them because I felt unsure of how to take them. I also hope by thinking of them more, I can understand the characters better.
