Hiro Hayami

*"**Hold the pride of a rose close to your heart and aim for heights no other can reach!**"*- Hiro to Renjouji Bell (*episode 48* of Rainbow Live)

**Hiro Hayami** (速水 ヒロ Hayami Hiro) is a member of the unit Over The Rainbow and an alumni of Kakyoin Academy of Edel Rose.

## Appearance

Hiro is an average height boy who has fairly short honey blonde hair with middle parted bangs and bronze eyes. He wears a matching light blue Over The Rainbow wristband with Kouji and Kazuki. He often wears black framed glasses when he goes out.

## Personality

Hiro is most known for his dedication and love towards his fans, his catchphrase being **"Absolute Idol, Love N.G"**. Pleasing his fans is often his first priority and he is always thinking of ways to make them happy. Out of the other two Over The Rainbow members, Hiro has the most idol experience, giving him a professional atmosphere compared to all the other characters.

Hiro's personality offstage however, contrasts his bright and charming idol character. Around his close friends he is much like any other normal, simple boy and is much calmer. He is also a bit dishonest and very selfless, thinking low of himself.

## Rainbow Live

### Upbringing

Hiro was born into a poor family. Due to his mother not being able to care for him, Hiro was sent away and transferred to various foster homes as a child, and was even eventually brought in and raised by a church. A few years later he is reunited with his mother and goes back to live with her at a run-down apartment.

While Hiro lived with his mother, he watched the Prism King Cup tournaments on his mothers phone, which led to his fondness to prism shows and his admiration for Hijiri Himuro. Kou Norizuki, who happened to see Hiro dancing in the park, sensed his potential and offered Hiro a scholarship at Edel Rose. Hiro's mother accepted Kou's offer and gladly gave up his son, thus Hiro was taken in by Edel Rose. At his 4th year of elementary school, Hiro moved to the residence of the Norizuki Family where he would live. After Kou leaves Japan, Jin Norizuki is given the responsibility to take care of Hiro.

It was then Jin who raised Hiro under strict rules and guidance. As a result, Hiro grew up aware that he was indebted to the family for saving him from poverty. This points to why Hiro never defied Jin's orders, nor did he ever express his own opinions, such is seen when Hiro defends Bell when Jin says, "When did you start voicing your opinions to me?" adding a mutter about Hiro being "dirty, just like your mother" which Hiro only clenches his teeth at.

### School Life

In his first year in Kakyoin Academy, Hiro didn't seem to have any friends. Always placing first on the ranks made other students suspect him of cheating, earning him the title of "teachers pet" since he had relations to the Norizuki Family. At the age of 13, Hiro meets Mihama Kouji. He finds him being made fun of by other students because of his music. He runs over to help him pick up his music sheets from the ground and they befriend each other.

The two became close friends. Hiro tells Kouji that he thinks it's amazing how he's trying to change Edel Rose with his music, and asked Kouji to write a song for him so he could show the world how great his songs were. In a scene of the two of them at the beach, Hiro says that becoming the Prism King wasn't his dream, but he wanted to be a hero who gave courage for people to face the future.

### HiroxKoji

Two years after their meeting, Kouji and Hiro are paired into one unit called "HiroxKoji" for their debut. In King Of Prism, it is revealed that it was Hiro himself who requested Jin for him and Kouji to be in one unit for his idol debut. However Jin refuses, saying that Kouji still didn't have a reputation. After Hiro begs another time, Jin allowed the debut with Kouji with the exception that Hiro claimed their debut song "Pride" to be written by him, or else he wouldn't be able to debut at all.

Hiro does what he is told and claims Pride as his own song to the public. Enraged, Kouji confronted Hiro and asked him why he did so. Hiro, unable to tell Kouji the truth, suddenly adapted a different character and attitude towards Kouji, claiming Jin said it would be better for publicity if he said he wrote the song. Shocked and feeling betrayed, Kouji decided to quit the unit and leave Edel Rose.

### Solo

Kouji left the unit and took his song "Pride" along with him. Hiro, unable to let Kouji and his songs go, looked for him to try and get the song back. Hiro manipulated Ito Suzuno in order to get Kouji to give his song to him, which proved successful. Hiro then performed the song Pride for his solo debut, claiming it as his own and losing sight of the true reason he wanted to sing Kouji's songs.

### Forming Over The Rainbow

Hiro was driven to the point of desperation to be freed from Jin who was manipulating him and using him as a tool for revenge on Hijiri. Hiro hints at Kazuki and Kouji, trying to tell them to help him through his mask of lies. He challenges Kazuki to a match in which the prize for winning would be getting ownership of Kouji's songs. Kouji writes the song "Freedom" for Kazuki to use during the battle. The song was actually written by Kouji as a message for Hiro, with lyrics that remind Hiro of their time as middle schoolers back in Edel Rose. After Kazuki's performance, Hiro immediately forfeited from the match.

Eventually Kazuki realized that Hiro was trying to ask for help. After being confronted by Hiro at Bell and Naru's show, Kazuki confirms that the song "Freedom" was actually a message by Kouji to Hiro, which reveals that though Kouji only ever responded with hatred towards Hiro, deep down he actually still cared for him as seen in the lyrics of the song.

The breaking point of Hiro's decision to leave Jin, was Bell. After the girls were disqualified from participating in the Prism Queen Cup by Jin, Hiro decides to expose him to the public and tell his fans that he was made to lie to everyone, including himself, this whole time by Jin.

After his confession and apology to his fans and to Kouji, Hiro was prepared to give up prism shows since he couldn't forgive himself for what he's done. Kazuki talks him out of it, saying that he's done more than enough and his fans would forgive him, and that Kouji thinks so too. Kouji then appears before the two, saying he and Hiro should reform their relationship. From there, the three of them would form the unit "Over The Rainbow".

## King Of Prism

In King Of Prism, Hiro supports Kouji's decision to go to America. Since Kouji's contract forbids him to write songs for Kazuki and Hiro while he's in America, Kouji offers Hiro one of his pre-made songs "Over The Sunshine" in case he wants to use it in the Prism King Cup. Hiro refuses, saying he'll compete with "Pride." He now aims to become the next Prism King to fulfill Hijiri Himuro's dream. At the end of the movie, however, it is seen that Kisaragi Louis had taken the place to sing "Pride" due to it's legal rights belonging to Schwarz Rose, leaving Hiro without a song by Kouji that he could sing in the Prism King Cup.

## Pride The Hero

In Pride The Hero, Hiro is still hung up on the fact that he can't use Kouji's song and is in a slump. He decides to go to America to visit Kouji. Kouji however, challenges Hiro to a prism show duel. Kouji is disappointed that Hiro came to see him and the fact that he's so dependent on Kouji and his songs. Kouji behaves harshly towards Hiro in hopes that he can become stronger on his own. Hiro loses the duel and goes back to Japan in tears. Hiro's slump is eventually overcome through the help of the other Edel Rose boys who trained alongside him. Yuu and Ito write Hiro a song to use in the Prism King cup in lieu of "Pride".

During the Prism King Cup, Hiro ends up using "Pride" anyway despite knowing he could get disqualified for it. However it turns out that Kakeru had a hand in regaining the song's rights to Edel Rose. During Hiro's prism show he is blessed and crowned Prism King by the Prism Goddess herself. Kouji and Kazuki then join him on stage to congratulate him.

## Career

Besides his activities in Over The Rainbow, Hiro is a model who appears in many commercials on TV. He is also an actor, and has starred in the movie "Yoru no Yoshaman" with Naru Ayase among others.

## Etymology

**Hayami** (速水) is a common surname in Japan, literally meaning "fast current" or "flowing water".

**Hiro** (ヒロ) has no particular meaning, but it is often tied to the English word "Hero" because of his character.

## Songs

1. Pride
2. Athletic Core
3. Over The Sunshine
4. Boy Meets Girl
5. Flavor
6. Nijiiro no Crown
7. Masquerade
8. Summer Sky ・Monologue
9. Eternal Rainbow
10. Edel Rose no o furo
11. Shiny Heart Beat
12. "H"EART OF "K"ING!!

## Trivia

* Hiro's official flower is the yellow rose
* Hiro is visually impaired and wears contact lenses when not wearing glasses
* Pretty Rhythm Director, Hishida Masakazu says Hiro's habit of biting things, such as his thumb or the ends of his glasses is because it's similar to a child who sucks on his thumb because he longs for his mother
* Kouji taught him how to play the piano, and he has an interest in the cello
* His strong point is mathematics
* He prefers to stay indoors than go outdoors
* His favorite food is bread
* He plays sports such as tennis or soccer with Kazuki on their off days
* His hobby is playing video games
* In the Pripara and Pretty Rhythm crossover movie, Hiro performs Pride with Kouji, commented on by Meganii who says "This is what Hiro truly wanted."
* The prism jump "Starlight Kiss" was taught to him by Jin Norizuki
* The prism jump "Shining Spiral" was inspired by Hijiri Himuro
* His unique way of gasping, imitates Jin who used to do it whenever he lost playing video games with Hiro
* He tends to skip his breakfast to deal with his busy schedule, because of this Kouji often scolds him and makes him food
* He shares his prism jump "Mugen Hug" with Sho from Aurora Dream and Ichijou Shin
* His favorite anime genre is Shoujo Anime
* In Kakyoin Academy's cross-dressing contest, Hiro wore Bell Renjouji's clothes
* The date of Rose Party, the day Kouji leaves for America, is the same date as his birthday
* There are rumors that Hiro is dating Bell or Naru, but when asked by Kazuki he replies with saying that they're only friends
* He is quite close to Juuouin Kakeru, with Shin even having said once that the two went out together to buy action figures
* During his Prism Show in the Prism King cup, Hiro's prism sparkle took the form of people who were most important to him: Kouji, Kazuki, and Bell

## References

1. ↑ King Of Prism Official Website
2. ↑ Anime News Network - King Of Prism by Pretty Rhythm Film's Trailer Previews Story
3. ↑ (Magazine Specification Needed) Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live Feature
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live episode 31
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live episode 45
6. ↑ Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live Anime Official Guide Book
7. ↑ KING OF PRISM Short Anime - Edel Rose Christmas Party
8. ↑ Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live LIVE in Christmas 2013 ~Fan Party~ Special Digest
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 *PriPara* & *Pretty Rhythm*: *PriPara* de Tsukaeru Oshare Item 1450!
10. ↑ PASH! October Issue 2016
11. ↑ PASH! Magazine June Issue 2016
12. ↑ Otomedia Magazine August Issue 2016