It’s a beginning that starts at the “end”. Hiro yanks at Natsuo’s clothes and gets slapped. But this is what Hiro should have done from the beginning. He’s finally seeing the face he wanted to see.
Cute opening credits! Flowers! A Calendar! Guys happy together!
Present-day Hiro works at a hair salon with Dai from The Boyfriend. He takes a break to explain that he was the unfortunate background character in a Study Group-style delinquent school. He kept his head down and tended flowers.
People knew him as Suzuki. This is important.
That’s where he met Natsuo, who harassed him with questions about flowers and couldn’t read kanji. Hiro was パシリ・pashri to the dumbest and loudest of the delinquents.
We see Natsuo abusing him with bread, matching shirts, and dropping a potted plant. It culminates on the rooftop, where Natsuo wants to say something, but is interrupted when other delinquents show up and knock Hiro to the ground. They think Hiro was about to confess and taunt him. Natsuo makes the unfortunate choice to go along with them.
That was it for Hiro
He spent 2 years at beauty school, reinventing himself. At the end, he was the confident, handsome, light-haired イケメン・ikemen hairstylist we see now.
But guess who wants a haircut? It’s Natsuo! Hiro recognizes him, but Natsuo doesn’t connect awkward high school Suzuki with confident hairstylist Hiro.
Despite his feelings, Hiro dissuades Natsuo from a buzz cut and gives him an attractive trim.
But the next day, Natsuo gets a head spa treatment and waits for Hiro outside. He wants to know if Hiro has a girlfriend, and since he doesn’t, will he date him? It’s love at first sight. Or something.
Hiro agrees, startling Natsuo.
But this is Hiro’s chance for revenge
He’ll date Natsuo and then dump him.
The next day, Natsuo enters Hiro’s apartment without asking and makes breakfast: Braised snapper head and a huge bowl of rice. Hiro doesn’t throw him out and eats breakfast.
Then Natsuo drags him to see the construction site he’s working on, and tries to take him somewhere else. At work, Hiro thinks maybe he’s made a huge mistake.
The next morning, he wakes up on his couch, beer cans on the coffee table. Natsuo is there, making hot pot for breakfast even though it’s not a breakfast food, because Hiro likes hot pot.
Natsuo’s parents never cooked for him, so he has no idea what he’s doing, and his fingers are all bandaged. Hiro tries the hot pot and says it’s definitely better than yesterday’s breakfast.
Hiro sees the world again
On the way to work, he looks up at the building that Natsuo showed him. He goes to the roof and gazes out at the city. This feels symbolic. He’s been so focused on reinventing himself that he hasn’t looked up or at the big picture until now.
Hiro finds plants on the roof and knows all their names. It’s like he’s meeting old friends. Their pots have been used as ashtrays. Hiro cleans them and ”ひさしぶりだな・hisashiburidana”’s.
It’s confusing, but I think this rooftop is where Natsuo was going to take him the previous morning.
At work, Hiro has a customer who adds a “きゅん・kyun” to his name and posts on social media. The manager loves her, but everyone worries she might run out of hair for Hiro to cut.
Natsuo invites Hiro on a date the next day, and Hiro forgets they’re dating for a moment.
At his sad, empty apartment, Hiro vows to make it a great date. He remembers Natsuo torturing him back at school, and the presumptuous way he asked him out. On a calendar, he marks the date a month away. That’s when he’ll dump him.
Natsuo waits for him outside an amazing orange building
Instead of a great date, Hiro drags him to places that are busy or closed, and then way out of the city. Natsuo whines. Hiro snaps back. Somehow it’s adorable.
Hiro takes them to a botanical garden. He impresses Natsuo with his knowledge of flowers and brags that he knows everything.
Then they get a side quest, finding the villain who is cutting up flowers. It’s a child. Hiro lectures him on how they aren’t just flowers, what the flower he’s cutting up is, how long it takes to bloom, and how short its bloom is, and all the energy that went into taking care of it. It’s a small but precious life.
Hiro is talking about himself.
The kid realizes the error of his ways and apologizes to the flower.
Natsuo remembers someone from High School
This person wrote furigana on a gardening book so Natsuo could read the kanji. This got him to study a little, so he graduated and got a job. That person “planted a seed” in him. That … sounds dirty. I blame A/B/O Desire.
Before they go, Hiro wants a souvenir of their first date. Natsuo picks out a delphinium. They go back to Hiro’s sad, cold place, and Hiro sets up his new plant.
We get our first plant POV, and it creepily watches them eat.
Hiro Is Complicated
He was, without a doubt, bullied in high school. He’s also in love with himself.
Between his name and being pashiri to his love interest, he reminds me of Hira in My Beautiful Man. Both are beaten down and hate everyone, but also want to prove themselves to people they hate. This is relatable.
However, their attitudes towards their love interests are very different. The way Hiro complains at Natsuo while going along with him is adorable.
I love that we start with them dating, thank you, Natsuo, for not wasting any time. And already he’s pulling Hiro out of this lonely, obsessive life and reminding him of the things he used to love. It feels so symbolic that he returns to a roof, the place that initially caused him to reinvent himself.
The kid chopping the plants was random, but it allowed us to see Natuso and Hiro be a team.
I also love the subversion of the “one cooks, the other eats” trope. One cooks, the other eats, but the food is terrible. Yet, Hiro is still eating. Why is that so romantic?
Finally, it’s worth looking up the meaning behind Delphinium. Does it remind anyone else of Natsuo? Maybe not the scorpion part.
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