Kawase

"Dirty people like you exist, so I turned out the way I am."

### Relatives

Unnamed Father (deceased)Unnamed Mother (unknown) Terutora Ikeda (adoptive father, deceased)

### Voice Actor

Marx (マルクス, Markus)

**Kawase** (川瀬), real name **Eiichi Segawa** (瀬川 瑛一, *Segawa Eiichi*), is the secondary love interest of Hashihime of the Old Book Town, with his route providing supplementary information to the first. He's associated with the color green. Since his adoption by Terutora Ikeda, he's now referred to as **Eiichi Ikeda** (池田 瑛一, *Ikeda Eiichi*). He is a genius student in the Imperial University's medical department.

## Appearance

Kawase has flat black hair similar in style to Tamamori's, except lacking in the latter's perpetual state of bedhead, and narrow black eyes. He's typically shown wearing his university uniform, a black gakuran, with or without the mantle and the cap. His face is considered to be stoic and handsome by Naoshi, with Tamamori's narration at large implying that he's strikingly beautiful and attracts people to him as a result.

## Personality

Kawase is described as being a "finicky" person, being an extreme germaphobe and hating when people touch him. He is also cruel and bitingly sarcastic, and likes to make fun of Tamamori, calling his stories trash. Despite having a miserably bad personality, Kawase can be caring, and has a soft spot for children. He has a habit of smoking and becomes more irritable on rainy days.

## Synopsis

(For a more detailed overview, look here.)

### Minakami Route

#### Timeline A

Kawase is introduced in the first scene of the game in Éclair Café, where he burns a hole through Tamamori's manuscript with a cigarette, calling it trash. He and Tamamori then make plans to meet the next day at Tamamori's place, before there is a sudden earthquake, causing him to spit out his coffee. He pours the remaining coffee over the head of a waitress who has a crush on him because she tried to wipe his uniform off with her handkerchief. He then demands another coffee on the house, an order which the waitress happily complies with. Frustrated, Tamamori calls Kawase a self-centered asshole, but he brushes it off.

The next day, he arrives at Umebachidou and reads the manuscript about Frog Man. After he finishes reading, he asks Tamamori if this is about "me and him." Tamamori replies that he has no idea what he's talking about. Hearing this, Kawase sighs and explains that the reason he agreed to edit Tamamori's manuscripts in the first place was that Tamamori confuses reality and fantasy, which upsets people. When Minakami arrives at Umebachidou he appears to go back to normal and leaves shortly after.

Later in the day, Tamamori meets Kawase in the café again, and asks him about Minakami's recent weird behavior, and Kawase that reveals that Minakami has been avoiding him since two years ago when the two of them first arrived at Jinbouchou and began attending the Imperial University. After Tamamori suggests that Kawase should come and watch Jekyll and Hyde with them at the cinema, and that they should confront Minakami together there, Kawase laughs and says that Minakami likes Tamamori, and the real reason why Minakami is avoiding Kawase is because he's jealous. He also theorizes that Minakami is only pretending to enjoy Tamamori's manuscripts to make him happy, and that his praise for his stories is just flattery. Afterwards, Tamamori mentions that Minakami met up with an "old friend," and theorizes that the old friend in question must be Hanazawa, since Minakami doesn't have any old friends other than the three of them. Kawase leaves to attend lectures at the Imperial University, leaving Tamamori to brood in the café alone.

A flashback sequence reveals that at first, Ikeda-san planned to rent out rooms to Minakami, Tamamori, and Kawase when they first came to the capital. Then he planned to adopt Tamamori and Kawase, but only adopted Kawase in the end.

The next day, Kawase arrives at Umebachidou to deliver the news of Minakami's suicide to Tamamori, and they head to the morgue together to identify his body. Kawase's name and contact information was found in the back of Minakami's notebook, meaning that he wanted Kawase (and not Tamamori) to handle his funeral affairs. After they come out of the morgue he and Tamamori go to the café. Tamamori insists that Minakami was murdered by the phantom in the basement from his manuscript, and Kawase calls him delusional, saying it was obviously a suicide.

(This section is a work in progress, my apologies. Please check back at a later date.)

## Relationships

### Tamamori

Kawase describes his relationship with Tamamori as "truly awful." When they first met as children, he resented Tamamori, because Tamamori saw him almost get murdered by his abusive father and did nothing to stop him. Because of this resentment, he attempts to murder Tamamori, which Minakami stops with the power of the Hashihime. He fell in love with Tamamori after the two of them threw Kawase's abusive father's dead body off of a bridge together.

### Hanazawa

At first, Tamamori assumes that Kawase and Hanazawa care each other as siblings, but the reality is more complicated than that: Kawase's father beat Hanazawa's father, who was trying to protect Kawase from being abused, to death. After his father's murder, Hanazawa became jaded and no longer wanted to be a good person.

Because Hanazawa's father died because of Kawase, he feels deeply guilty and indebted towards Hanazawa, and is studying to become a doctor like Hanazawa's father to repay his debt. However, Hanazawa dislikes and thinks nothing of Kawase.

### Hakase

Because he believes Hanazawa's "recent weirdness" has to do with his friendship with Hakase, Kawase hates him and strongly rejects Hakase's attempts at befriending him. Hakase himself seems to be oblivious to Kawase's hatred of him, thinking that they get along.

## Etymology

* The surname **Kawase** means "river, stream" (川) (**kawa**) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (**se**).

### Real Name

* The name **Eiichi** means "sparkle of jewelry, crystal" (瑛) (**ei**) and "one" (一) (**ichi**).
* Eiichi's surname **Segawa** means "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (**se**) and "river, stream" (川) (**kawa**/**gawa**).

### Adoption

* The name **Eiichi** means "sparkle of jewelry, crystal" (瑛) (**ei**) and "one" (一) (**ichi**).
* Eiichi's adoptive surname **Ikeda** means "pool, pond" (池) (**ike**) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (**ta**/**da**).

## Gallery

Kawase in the 4th cover of the Hashihime Drama CDs