Hanae Ashiya

* Anime
* Manga

**Hanae Ashiya** (芦 (**あし**) 屋 (**や**) 花 (**はな**) 繪 (**え**) , *Ashiya Hanae*) is the main character of *Fukigen na Mononokean*. He is a high school student who is able to see yōkai and a part-time employee of the Mononokean.

## Appearance

Hanae has raven-black hair, blue eyes and he stands at 170cm tall.

He is normally seen wearing his school uniform which consists of a red tie, white shirt, yellow vest and black pants.

## Personality

Hanae has a cheerful, amiable and straightforward personality who can easily sympathize with both humans and yōkai. He is very energetic and willing to help anyone in need. While he tends to panic quite often and is very expressive with his emotions, he is gregarious in getting along with everyone he meets.

At times during his many jobs, he often shows a sympathy towards the many sad circumstances of those whom he meets and always vies for a better solution.

As Hanae can act rather childlike at times, with his naive innocence, impulsiveness and abundance of energy, he is quite often compared to and referred as a five-year-old (mostly by Haruitsuki Abeno).

Admitting that he is inexperienced when it comes to his job, he is willing to help no matter what as sometimes he can be astute to some situations.

He is also described as having a loud personality even when quiet (as his actions are loud) and even Hanae himself admits that it is part of his character.

Interestingly, he is more afraid of ghosts than yokai, becoming terrified at the prospect of playing hide and seek at night in a graveyard and walking behind Zenko Fujiwara tugging on her shirt when he had to as he did not want to wander the graveyard alone.

## Abilities

### Sixth Sense

Hanae is able to see, sense and communicate with yōkai.

### Influence

Hanae has an ability to force yōkai into a submissive state. This was first shown when he confronted Goichida, the capybara yōkai who accused him of thievery and hurt Fuzzy, a strange blue aura came out of his arm and Goichida kneeled before Hanae, feeling an oppressive force and aura coming out of Hanae that awoke out of Hanae's anger.

This ability is later revealed as "Influence". He has yet to learn how to control this.

### Metal Detection

Hanae has also mentioned an ability to find metal objects such as scissors and rings from what it appears to be instinct alone as shown when he managed to find a ruby ring that Manjirou and Haruitsuki couldn't find after four meetings and again when he found the Justice's gold tail ring quickly.

### Stamina

Hanae seems to have a good amount of stamina, once managing to play with Fuzzy for an entire night without sleep. He is also good at running, shown when he wakes up late and runs to his school in ten minutes with his usual commute that takes 30 minutes.

He can do some acrobatics.

## Relationships

### Haruitsuki Abeno

Haruitsuki sees Hanae as a five-year old as Hanae always cries easily, gets himself possessed by demons and to him is seemingly unable to do jobs without assistance sometimes. But even so, there have been times when he has shown concern for Hanae. Despite their arguments Hanae holds a great respect for Haruitsuki, and seems very eager to please him despite his complaints. When he feels that Haruitsuki is ignoring him because he did something wrong, he stresses about it to the point of being unable to eat, and genuinely gets upset when he realizes Haruitsuki was just lost in thought on another matter the whole day. This shows that despite their rocky start, Hanae's feelings for Haruitsuki are warm and genuine, and he is happy to be in his service. He becomes extremely happy when Haruitsuki praises his work as shown when he was praised after completing Manjirou's request. When Haruitsuki acts recklessly by accepting Gyōsei's request jobs without Hanae's knowing and exhausted himself, Hanae told Haruitsuki to ask for his help anytime he needed and not to worry about Gyōsei.

### Fuzzy

Hanae first met Fuzzy when he was walking home. Ever since that day, he is seen clinging onto Hanae, despite Hanae's attempts to get rid of him. After finding out why Fuzzy did not leave him despite punching and kicking him, Hanae becomes friendly and caring towards Fuzzy. Fuzzy enjoys playing and spending time with Hanae, and gets so depressed when Hanae is unable to see him that he refused to leave the Mononokean and sulks in a corner. Hanae enjoys petting Fuzzy as he has extremely soft fur and sometimes even calls it beautiful.

### Zenko Fujiwara

When the two first met, Zenko didn't believe that Hanae was looking for a mask and thought he was a robber, having overheard him shouting that he's going to steal the temple's gong. However, when he revealed he could help her father stop laughing (the result of the mask he was looking for) she decided to give him a chance, saying she will pretend he tricked her. He ultimately enlightened her and helped the strained relationship with her and her father by explaining to her how her father didn't want her to inherit the temple not because she was a girl but because she was his child and he wanted her to have more options. After the job was done, she stated her desire to meet Hanae again, to the distress of her father. She becomes friends with Hanae after attending school and receiving help when she is bitten by Yahiko, causing a mark to appear on her arm that harms her and also gave her the ability to see demons. She has since hung out with him and on occasion helps him and Abeno deal with demons. While she enjoys the company of Yahiko and the employees of the Mononokean, she seems closest to Ashiya.

### Nara Ashiya

He seems to get along well with his mother, though gets annoyed when she expresses her feeling using flowers. When he was falling ill due to being possessed by Fuzzy, she was worried and wondered if it was hereditary since she herself often fell ill due to anemia. She was relieved when he felt better. The two seem to enjoy each other's company and she often worries for Ashiya especially since he now stays out late helping the Mononokean but understands he is working hard and doesn't bother him too much.

### Yahiko

The two do not get along and Yahiko often blames things on Hanae when things don't go well even when it is not Hanae's fault (almost 99% of the time it isn't Ashiya's fault). He even refuses to share his sweets and snacks with him. Despite this, he later admits he doesn't hate Hanae as much after he helps Yahiko out with Kinako though he refuses to admit this to Hanae. Hanae himself still acts friendly to Yahiko despite being annoyed by Yahiko's behavior with him and even offers to buy him sweets and was upset when he believed Yahiko hated him further after he helped Yahiko part with Kinako.

### Mononokean

The two get along well. The Mononokean tends to worry about Hanae since he tends to get into trouble with demons and once had Abeno write a beginner edition rules list for traveling to the underworld, causing Hanae to wonder if they thought of Hanae as a child. They care for Hanae and when Hanae temporarily lost the ability to see Yōkai, they admitted they were worried Hanae would never return and was thrilled when his vision came back. It tends to explain things to Hanae and acts like a well meaning parent.

### Kōra

The two seem to get along okay although Hanae is somewhat terrified of her because she sometimes suggests making medicine out of his body parts. She is aware he is human and doesn't seem to mind.

### Shizuku

The two seem to get along as he calls her "Shizuku-chan" and respects her ability to make medicine though is somewhat distressed when she gets jealous when Kōra suggests making medicine of him due to her obsession with Kōra. He was thankful when she treated Fuzzy's wounds and the two are shown to get along though she is unaware he is human.

### Rippō

The two get along well, though Hanae was initially fearful that he would have Hanae fired and also believed he was irresponsible since Abeno described him as someone who loves gambling, alcohol, women, and his sister. He is aware Hanae is human and accepts him as a member of the Mononokean and believes he is changing Abeno for the better as he is making Abeno more human. He also had him and Abeno help with his paperwork in exchange for a large sum of cash, something Hanae was willing to do.

### Shihō

The two met while Hanae was delivering a letter to Gyōsei from the Rippō. Hanae was initially scared of the Justice due to his large size in yokai form, but the Justice proved that he meant no harm, which calmed Hanae down and helped him find its gold tail ring. In exchange, Justice took Hanae to Gyōsei on his back. He considers Hanae interesting while Hanae shows respect to Justice as his superior and a friend. He tried to lure Hanae to Gyōsei's building when he was ordered to by him but seems to get along with Hanae. Justice also tend to care about Hanae's safety as he pulled him away from Gyōsei and told him to stop when Hanae was hurt. Justice was the first to ask him whether he was alright when he was affected by Gyōsei's aura.

### Gyōsei

The Gyōsei is a high ranking demon who has hatred for humans so naturally that he wasn't pleased at all to learn Hanae's identity and has been wondering whether he should let him live or be killed. He lured Hanae to his place at the pretense of him being accused of thievery. When he met Hanae, he called him dangerous and enjoyed seeing him struggle, he may have intended to kill Hanae right there until Abeno struck him down.

## Creation and Conception

According to the mangaka, Kiri Wazawa, Haruitsuki was originally supposed to be the main protagonist of the manga series. Wazawa's former editor spotted Hanae in a sketch Wazawa drew in the margins of Wazawa's plot synopsis, commenting that Hanae "looks good." Wazawa decided to include Hanae as a character, as a friend of Haruitsuki. But Wazawa's editor changed and the new one suggested making Hanae as the main protagonist of the series .

## Quotes

* *"I... understand why you're angry. I understand you're upset because... someone stole your fruit. Whatever the reason... It's wrong to steal. I understand your desire to catch and punish the thief, too. But... You ignored what I had to say in order to say what you wanted. You even threatened me with a knife.You took your anger out on someone else and hurt them. Don't you realize... that was the wrong thing to do?"* - to the Capybara Yōkai in Chapter 10
* *"I just can't imagine the scale of something as large as "for demonkind". I've wanted to help the demons I meet through working at the Mononokean."* - to Rippō in Chapter 11
* *"Oh, good, it's not a ghost. It's just a yōkai."*

## Etymology

* The name **Hanae** means "flower, blossom" (花) (**hana**) and "picture, drawing, painting, sketch" (繪) (**e**).
* Hanae's surname **Ashiya** means "reed" (芦) (**ashi**) and "roof, house, shop, dealer, seller" (屋) (**ya**).

## Trivia

* From the official fanbook of Fukigen na Mononokean, **Employee Manual** (Volume 6.5):
	+ Hanae tends to have a smug expression when he does something he thinks is worthy of praise.
	+ Hanae likes being praised and giving Fuzzy attention while he dislikes getting scolded and ignored, and scary things.
	+ Hanae's best classes are Physical Education and Modern Literature while his worst is Chemistry.
	+ His favorite food are strawberries and melonpan while his least favorite are wasabi and karashi mustard.
* Hanae was born on a winter solstice while Haruitsuki Abeno was born on a summer solstice and Zenko Fujiwara was born on a vernal equinox.
* It is possible that Hanae is descended from Doman Ashiya, an onmyōji known as the rival of the more famous Abe no Seimei, although the kanji in his family name is different.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 76
2. ↑ Chapter 45
3. ↑ Chapter 12
4. ↑ Chapter 27
5. ↑ Chapter 45
6. ↑ Chapter 32
7. ↑ *Fukigen na Mononokean* Chapter 4, page 42