Mei Hamano

* Anime
* Manga

****Mei Hamano**** (浜野 めい, *Hamano Mei*?) is a supporting character of the More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers manga series. She is the assigned practice partner of Shū Terafune and the overprotective friend of Shiori Sakurazaka.

## Appearance

Mei is a peach-skinned girl with a slim and athletic build. She has short reddish hair that has bangs hanging on the left side and green eyes. She possesses notable tan-lines in the shape of her sports bra and her socks.

Mei wears a standard school uniform consisting of a light blue collared shirt, a dark blue skirt and brown shoes. Unlike the other female characters, she does not wear a bow. Either due to injury or physical stress caused from being an athlete, Mei wears a brace on her left knee.

## Personality

Mei is portrayed as a tomboy who enjoys playing sports. Fitting to the archetype, Mei does not usually wear clothes that are considered girly, preferring to wear t-shirts and pants as opposed to dresses. Despite being a star athlete, Mei has stated that she does not do well in academics, having to rely on her best friend and crush, Shiori to tutor her.

Mei's personality varies widely depending on who she is interacting with. She tends to be more friendly and respectful towards girls. especially with Shiori. With boys however, Mei often shows them her more brash, no-nonsense side.

One trait that Mei possesses that is consistent throughout her appearances is that she is a woman of action who prefers to be direct and to the point. Unlike Jirō, Mei has no qualms with openly telling someone the truth, even if it hurts them and prefers to take action regarding her situation rather than play the waiting game. This is shown when Mei rejected Manami's love confession to her rather than accept it, knowing she does not feel that way about her. Mei's belief of being straightforward also extends to others, such as when she badgers Shiori for taking too long to make a move on Jirō and when she berates Jirō for continuously giving Shiori false hope of a romantic relationship instead of being direct with her. As this type of attitude is complimentary to her physically active lifestyle, Mei also has a dislike for people she considers to be slackers.

Mei has been shown to be romantically attracted to other girls. As noted by both Shiori and Sadaharu, Mei is wildly popular with the other girls in school for her charms, even receiving love letters and a confession from one of her admirers. It is unknown if she is bisexual or lesbian but given that she has at no point shown any form of attraction towards boys, it is hinted that she at least has a stronger preference for girls. While it is no secret that Mei has asked out other girls in the past, her self-esteem was damaged after overhearing several girls talking about her preferences, jokingly hoping that she wouldn't come after them and facilitating that Shiori is in danger of her advances. As a result, Mei has refrained from confessing her feelings to Shiori, under the pretense that Shiori is not romantically attracted to girls and that doing so would forever damage their relationship if she was to be rejected. Ironically, her feelings for Shiori and her choice of not confessing is the one exception for which she would rather remain quiet rather than take action.

Similar to Minami, Mei has a tendency to please other while putting aside her own feelings. This is especially evident with Shiori, as she will do anything to make her happy, including helping her get together with her Jirō despite her own crush on Shiori and disdain for Jirō. Another example was during the sports festival, where she was asked by the cheer squad to replace the injured Misaki for their upcoming dance routine. She initially hesitated but not wanting to let Shiori down, she accepted. Later on, she attempted to hide a leg injury from the track team for their upcoming race, not wanting to cause panic amongst her teammates. Despite attempts by her to convince them that she is fit to participate, Mei reluctantly withdrew from the race upon Minami's intervention and felt guilty about the predicament she had put her teammates in. Mei's habits of trying to help others make her seem like nice person as confirmed by both Sadaharu and Shiori, however, Mei notes herself that she is rather selfish.

In addition to being a successful athlete, the anime has shown that Mei is also capable at playing the piano.

## History

Little is known about Mei's background prior to the start of the series. It is known that she was enrolled in Seishun Academy at least for her high school years. During these years, she apparently was friends with Shiori and became acquainted with Jirō.

## Plot

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## Relationships

### Shiori Sakurazaka

Shiori is Mei's best friend who is really supportive of her and wants her to win Jirō Yakuin over.

It is hinted in **Chapter 50** that she may possibly have feelings for her.

### Jirō Yakuin

Initially, Mei did not understand what Shiori Sakurazaka sees in Jirō as she sees him as a slacker and doesn't think highly of him. However, due to Shiori's crush on him, she attempts to bring the two closer together despite the fact that she has a crush on Shiori herself.

After repeatedly hearing from Shiori about Jirō actions that fail to convince her that he wants to be with her, Mei had grown to dislike him, as she feels that he is leading Shiori on.

Mei's interactions with Jirō are limited with almost all of them being about Shiori. She has often shown visible disdain for him when they interact and Jirō appears to be somewhat aware of that.

### Shū Terafune

As Shū's assigned practice wife, Mei appears to be on friendly terms with him. While they are able to interact normally, Mei apparently does not praise him often and considers him to be somewhat of a nuisance. When Shū landed the job at the coffee shop where Minami worked, Mei would sarcastically comment that he would be more of a hinderance to the business rather than of extra help. On the other hand, Shū is hinted to be aware of Mei's feelings for Shiori and has provided assistance to help the two spend more time together. In response, Mei was irritated over Shū's actions, saying that it was none of his business. It would later be revealed that Shū did it because he owed many favors to his practice wife, indicating that Mei is likely the more proactive of the two in their partnership.

In terms of the practical, the two have remained together ever since Chapter 18 revealed that they were partners. Based on the fact that they are still together after many months, the pair has likely never reached A-Rank.

### Ōmae

During the sports festival, Ōmae was seen to be hostile towards Mei. According to rumors, it was because the girl that Ōmae was interested in liked Mei instead. However, when Ōmae and Jirō were talking after the sports festival, the former asked for Mei's number, implying that he actually liked Mei.

## Etymology

* The name **Mei** is written in hiragana (めい), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (芽依, 芽生 or 芽衣), it could possibly mean:
	+ 芽依 - "bud, sprout" (芽) (**me**) and "rely on" (依) (**i**).
	+ 芽生 - "bud, sprout" (芽) (**me**) and "life, living" (生) (**i**).
	+ 芽衣 - "bud, sprout" (芽) (**me**) and "clothing, garment" (衣) (**i**).
* Mei's surname **Hamano** means "beach, seashore" (浜) (**hama**) and "field, wilderness" (野) (**no**).

## Trivia

* Like most of the characters, Mei's surname is derived from the name of a Japanese train station; Hamano Station.
	+ However, unlike the other characters where they were named after train stations located in the Fukuoka Prefecture of Japan, Hamano Station is located in the Chiba Prefecture.
* In her debut chapter, Mei is first shown wearing the knee brace on her right leg instead of her left.