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AETHER (AETH)

20, he/him, transgender (FTM), homosexual. ENFP, aquarius, English speaking only.

All art by Karp

"You love to feel this way, so you scream - could it be?"
- Crybaby (Destroy Boys)

INTERESTS

KGRB, JJK, DDD, Lucky Star, Azumanga Daioh.
Sonic/Kirby franchises, Animal Crossing, Fantasy Life.

INTERESTS

Tyler The Creator, Kali Uchis, Kendrick Lamar, Alice Longyu Gao, F5ve, PinkPantheress, Pami.
Red Velvet, LOONA, ITZY, LE SSERAFIM, STAYC, IVE, BIBI, SUMMER CAKE, The Deep.

BEFORE INTERACTING…

Do Not Disturb is on at all times, flirting is platonic. I will not interact with sukugo content.

DO NOT INTERACT…

-14, lolisho/pedo/incest shippers, self harm/eating disorder content, tojikuna antis.

working on this section… sorry!!

This is the extra section of this carrd that I’ve been putting a good amount of work into! As you can see, this carrd is absolutely covered in art by a friend of mine of Hakuri and Hiruhiko. If you do not know from that as well as the name of the carrd, this is under the pretense of shipping. I am a pretty big fan of the ship despite the fact it has no real concrete ground to stand under, because that is, unfortunately, nothing new to me. Hakuri and Hiruhiko may not know each other canonically in the slightest but that will not stop my nonsense. I am going to rant about them here because I feel like it and also I want to put my feelings into words rather than keeping it all jumbled up in my head. I think making some kind of coherent timeline of my thoughts might help, and I think it will be fun!

My interest for Hakuri and Hiruhiko as a pairing (HakuHiko) began in January 2025 (beginning-middle of). I’ve always been one to search out less popular ships because, for some reason, that’s just what I tend to gravitate towards. It happened very easily with TojiKuna, which I’ve been a huge fan of for a while too, and I still am. When I got into HakuHiko, there was no art of them. The only exception to this was the occasional art of them alongside Chihiro, and then Iori, or even if they were portrayed as fighting over Chihiro. Despite that being a popular concept, it was never what prompted me to get into HakuHiko.

In seeing Chihiro’s reaction to Hiruhiko and how he treated him, it made me wonder if Hakuri would treat him differently. I worried for a while that because Hakuri would act with anger towards him, that it was too similar to Chihiro and Hiruhiko’s relationship. I was under the assumption that Chihiro wholeheartedly, or at least to some degree, hated Hiruhiko - so when chapter 78 came out it was amazing to me. It gave me a clear canon point to differentiate how Chihiro sees Hiruhiko and how Hakuri would see Hiruhiko. Instead of classifying them both as hating Hiruhiko, there was a difference now, which made me really excited to say the least.

In chapter 78, after being pulled out of the fight in the hotel, Hiruhiko relents that Chihiro doesn’t feel anything for him. Instead of hatred, or disgust, Chihiro looks on at Hiruhiko with disinterest, and it destroys him. Typical in his unconventional ways, Hiruhiko, on meeting Chihiro, developed a kind of attachment to him in the form of seeking a strange form of friendship, only to find out that the one he’d become one-sidedly attached to couldn’t even find enough interest in him to hate him. Even though he provoked Chihiro, both verbally and physically, it had meant nothing to him.

I think what interests me so much aside from the acknowledgment that Chihiro feels nothing for him is his face shown after - his expression. He’s pretty much devastated, and whilst he’s obviously extremely injured from the fight he was just pulled out of, it’s as though Chihiro’s disregard of him is the only thing that seems to affect him. He sobs through the blood across his face, and then Hakuri is reintroduced by the end of the chapter.

As Hiruhiko’s character is pretty much benched at this chapter, at least for now, being severely injured. Along with that, the fact that the main link he had to Chihiro, the main character, is destroyed, it leads to a death of sorts. As Hiruhiko’s death comes about here, of course not literal but more metaphorical, Hakuri makes his return. As Hiruhiko sustains injuries, Hakuri recovers, creating a dichotomy of death and birth, and an idea of reincarnation. This, intentional or not, connects the two of them. Hakuri, who has been long missing and Hiruhiko, who has been present in his absence, directly swap places within the same chapter.

Hiruhiko and Hakuri both have similarities. The most prominent thing, however, is unbelievably upsetting, even if it’s something they have in common. Chapter 70 reveals that Hiruhiko, as a child, was assaulted. The only issue I have here is that the english translation portrays it only as assault, and not as what it says originally, which is that he was sexually assaulted.

Hakuri’s abuse is very prominent in his character’s storytelling. His family, and more specifically Soya, ruin his perception of self because of their abuse. More specifically, whilst Soya did physically abuse him, it is very easy to understand the implication that it was far worse than that. Soya’s incestuous relationship with Hakuri can only leave the implication that, though not directly addressed as it was with Hiruhiko, Hakuri was raped by Soya.

To some people, it might be a shocking claim, but with the shared understanding that none of the Sazanami children have a real understanding of familial relationships, it isn’t that far of a reach. Especially with the outright statement that Hiruhiko was sexually assaulted, it becomes not that outrageous of a claim. Soya, with his unsettling obsession over Hakuri, preyed on him since he was young, and began abusing him when he was around seven or eight. When something like that holds up for ten years, enough for Hakuri to build up a physical endurance in battle, alongside the fact that Soya’s attachment to him is clearly uncomfortable and unsettling, there can be no real pushback on the idea that Hakuri, too, was sexually assaulted.

The reason that I acknowledge HakuHiko’s experiences as a child is not only for the purpose of shipping them, but it’s to understand a similarity they have. Both Hakuri and Hiruhiko experienced a warped idea of childhood, which then warped their idea of love. This, then, is something that leaves a rather permanent effect on them both. Hakuri is left with the constant need to fulfil a purpose, to be useful, which will then allow him to be loved. Hiruhiko seeks out Chihiro’s attention under the guise of friendship, though he has no clue how friendship really works. Though Hakuri feels like he has to work for it, the two of them just want acknowledgment. In befriending Chihiro, Hakuri’s world is opened up to the idea of healing, in which he will, hopefully, understand that he can be loved unconditionally. Hiruhiko, who is dismissed by Chihiro, does not, and may never find that same comfort.

Because of the fact that Hakuri and Hiruhiko have not met in canon, and do not know each other (at least not yet), how they would react to each other is entirely up to interpretation, which is why other factors are so important. Looking at it myself, I believe Hiruhiko would want to provoke Hakuri. Supported by the fact that Chihiro showed no interest in him and that is what broke him, I think that Hiruhiko would try to push Hakuri in the same way. Hiruhiko continues to have a warped perception of friendship and general affection, and in attempting to find friendship again, I believe he would try the same, or a similar approach.

The difference between Hiruhiko pushing Chihiro and him pushing Hakuri is that Hakuri gives a response that Hiruhiko seeks out. Chihiro, when met with the accusation that him and Hiruhiko are the same, of course denies it vehemently. However, Hakuri who is a more emotional person in comparison to Chihiro, at least openly, would likely react with, of course, more emotion. Hakuri spends his entire life belittled by others and considered the runt of his family; when he finally exits that bubble and walks alongside Chihiro and the others that changes. If Hiruhiko were to provoke him, there’s no telling on if he could remain composed or not.

Essentially, HakuHiko hinges on the idea that if Hiruhiko were to take interest in Hakuri instead, Hiruhiko would be able to aggravate Hakuri. That, then, would allow the dynamic to continue, rather than to fizzle out as it did between him and Chihiro. In ChiHiko, whether under the guise of shipping or just a general look at their relationship, Chihiro does not give lasting pushback against Hiruhiko’s behaviour, because he does not put real focus onto him. This is what led me to believe it would be entirely short-lived, and doomed, though I feel that is pretty obvious and very clearly why a lot of people enjoy the pairing. HakuHiko, however, has different possibilities. If Hiruhiko is able to provoke Hakuri, as he couldn’t with Chihiro, it opens up the idea of a lasting dynamic. Whether it develops into something romantic or not, Hakuri’s emotional reaction will keep the back and forth going. Chihiro’s disregard and Hakuri’s clear reactions is what makes ChiHiko and HakuHiko so different.

When Hiruhiko admits that Chihiro doesn’t feel anything towards him, it leaves an empty space. In acknowledging that there is no back and forth between the two of them, it either leaves opportunity to chase after him more violently, or for something else to fill that spot. Both options can very easily lead to a spotlight on Hakuri. If Hiruhiko were to continue to chase after Chihiro, Hakuri is the closest option next to him, whether it be to use him for a threat, to see him as an obstacle, or to see him and realise that Hakuri is the one that befriended Chihiro, in comtrast to his own failed attempts. Regardless of the prompt, Hiruhiko would presumably act a similar way with Hakuri that he did with Chihiro, and that behaviour would provoke him. To push at him, and perhaps even say what he says to Chihiro and compare the two of them - tell him they’re the same. If Hiruhiko were to compare Hakuri to himself, or even mention Chihiro, I think it would be very easy for him to get a reaction out of him.

The main factor of HakuHiko is this ongoing fight. Hakuri will be faced with Hiruhiko, who will treat him as the runt he was belittled to as a child, and whether he wants to or not, he will react emotionally. Hakuri’s emotional outburst is something so different than Chihiro’s reaction that Hiruhiko ends up with an obsessive interest in him. Hiruhiko will feed off of Hakuri’s emotional reactions, and when he fights back it will only spur him on to keep going.

The longer the HakuHiko dynamic continues, the angrier Hakuri gets. Hakuri will resort, eventually, to violent means by impulse. He will hit, kick, and bite, and eventually he will immediately look at Hiruhiko with rage when he sees him, and that is what fuels his obsession. Hiruhiko, then, with a much more unconventional grasp on his emotions, will end up with the same strange romantic pull towards Hakuri that he had towards Chihiro. Hakuri, having a strange grasp on romance, will fall into this with Hiruhiko, and whilst they never “date”, it remains a weird but romantic relationship.

Obviously, I know that the romantic aspect isn’t something that will ever happen in canon. I’m very familiar with nonsense pairings that will never come to be, but it’s about taking that dynamic that could occur in canon and seeing some kind of extreme of it. I love the idea of Hakuri finding someone to openly resent rather than cowering away as he always has as a child, and Hiruhiko finding an obsession with it. It’s almost like a form of therapy, a violent one at that but it still serves as a way that Hakuri can finally, for once in his life, dominate. He has power over somebody for once in his life, and even though that somebody offers up that power to him with open hands because he is obsessed with what Hakuri does with it, he takes it like it’s what he deserves.

Afterschool date yayyy

Outside of the canonical setting, Karp (the one behind all the amazing art) and I really enjoy HakuHiko in a more modern setting where the characters get to actually go to school. I think under the pretense of going to school together, it’s a lot easier for them to interact, as well as a lack of pressure from the state of the canon universe. Instead of being on opposing sides with a matter of life or death, Hiruhiko just bothers Hakuri freely, a classmate of his, or at least in the same school year. Highschool AUs are pretty common so it’s a pretty simple concept to put them into, but I also especially like the idea of Hakuri meeting Hiruhiko before he meets Chihiro, which kind of leaves them as a pair in the group that is just expected to act with each other as they do, since they knew each other already.

In this scenario, of course Chihiro can still have the same effect on Hakuri that he does in canon, but there’s also the presence of Hiruhiko that stands less as a threat, but more just a member of a group of friends. He’s strange, but not an outright violent threat. That being said, I don’t think it’s right to say that Hakuri and Hiruhiko wouldn’t be violent with each other in this setting. I think it’s more of a beating each other up to entertain Hiruhiko’s strange behaviour, just without the life-threatening situation of the canon universe.

music interpretation