Hidenori Tabata/Relationships

Yassan
The two first meet when Yassan sees Hidenori reading alone on a windy riverbank. She sits down close to him without saying anything, which perplexes him. He eventually concludes that she’s come there seeking a romantic ‘boy-meets-girl’-type scenario, and spits out a corny-sounding line about the wind in an effort to avoid disappointing her, which she receives unexpectedly well. Unable to keep it up any longer, he calls his friends for help, but they only worsen the situation.

In the ensuing moments, Hidenori finds a novel written by her in her bag. He reads it despite Yassan’s visible embarrassment and sees that it depicts a boy and girl meeting on a riverbank with the boy having wind-controlling powers, explaining her delight at his opening line. After this event, the riverbank turns into a danger-zone for Hidenori, due to the high likelihood of Yassan catching him unawares. The next time they meet, he gets irritated by her laughing at his lines, but is moved when she actually feels guilty and tries to apologize to him later. When she gets knocked out by accident, Hidenori leaves his blazer behind to protect her from the cold. Their cat-and-mouse relationship continues to persist, however.

In the finale of the anime (which might be part of a dream sequence), after graduating from their respective schools, the two meet each other again at the riverbank. Unlike their previous meetings, they are calm and composed, even matching each other by quoting poetic lines about the wind. Hidenori ends up offering his hand to Yassan, who takes it, smiling and blushing (this scene is absent from the manga).

In the manga, more awkward encounters take place between the two. The two are seen for the last time in the epilogue, when Hidenori, working at the haunted house in the cultural festival, suddenly encounters her. She somehow sees through his disguise and tries to grab him, but he manages to escape.

While their relationship seems one-sided, both share some traits, such as having an interest in reading. Notably, both of them enjoy turning fictional or fairytale-like situations into reality (although Yassan does so at Hidenori’s expense). Much like Yassan’s attempts at romantic riverbank encounters, Hidenori was seen trying to re-enact a manga-inspired balcony conversation with his neighbour (a high-school girl).

Yassan’s wind routine is a running gag in the series. It has stuck with Hidenori so much that he’s tried it on other people at the riverbank as well, often resulting in unintended consequences. For instance, it fails miserably on Yanagin and he runs away from the bank in embarrassment. Seeing Yassan at the top of the bank, he remembers that she would always be one to tolerate his lines and he hence gives her a warm smile. Finding this unexpected, she blushes vividly.

Also, when Yassan appeared to have lost interest in him during their meeting in an elevator, Hidenori initially appears relieved but later feels neglected and follows her to see if she really doesn’t care anymore.

Yoshitake
Yoshitake and Hidenori are very close and have known each other for a long time, to the extent that Hidenori gets annoyed by very minor things he does (like the fact that he uses the restroom ‘way too often’). The two share a lot of enthusiasm for outlandish role-playing and enjoying themselves in general, although Yoshitake is the more level-headed of the two. Their closeness often leaves Tadakuni feeling left out.

Hidenori is shown to value Yoshitake’s opinions, often discussing various topics with him and asking him for inputs regarding a manga he attempted to write. However, when he finds out that Rubber Shooter might really have been Yoshitake all along, he is initially embarrassed and unwilling to accept it.

Tadakuni
The two are good friends and are often seen in each other’s company. Being the ‘straight man’ of the trio, Tadakuni is sometimes exasperated by Hidenori’s antics and at times feels isolated from the others. However, they did form an unexpected team when it came to playing around with Tadakuni’s sister’s underwear. Hidenori also became rather emotional when Tadakuni and Yoshitake prepared a surprise for his birthday.

In the lone instance in which they try to discuss something (girls being cute), they end up being on completely different wavelengths.

Emi
Hidenori first meets Emi when she kicks him into a river in the countryside near his grandparents’ home. He is initially very annoyed and strongly disapproving when he finds out about her frequent abuse of Kiyohiko. Later, he gets on good terms with them and enjoys the summer holidays in their company.

Emi develops feelings for him during this period, and decides to confess before he leaves. On the day of a festival, she dresses up in style and gets Kiyohiko out of the way in order to talk to Hidenori alone on a bridge. She is initially shy and unable to bring it out, but just as she musters the courage, he interrupts her and reveals that they are actually cousins, which mortifies her. She ends up saying nothing, but is shown getting ready to jump off the bridge in frustration, implying that Hidenori gets to know of her feelings for him.

Other
Hidenori’s other friends in school include Motoharu, Mitsuo and Karasawa. They sometimes hang out with the main trio, forming an extended group (especially in the summer).

He has gotten on Tadakuni’s younger sister’s bad side quite a few times, first playing with her underwear then casting her as the final antagonist of their role-playing adventures, the ‘Demon Lord’. He’s also tried to help her out on a couple of occasions outside school, both ending disastrously. Hidenori is wary of her insane strength, like many others. However, when she gets into a fight and comes to Karasawa for help, he eavesdrops on them and follows her to ensure her safety. In a similar vein, he is also terrified of Yoshitake's older sister, having once angered her by mistake.

Hidenori is on good terms with his older brother Yūsuke, who was the ringleader that the main trio followed as kids before he went to college. The idea of indoor adventuring seems to have come from Yūsuke. Yūsuke also manages to get his hands on Tadakuni’s sister’s underwear, no doubt having been given it by Hidenori.

Their father is seen playing sports with Hidenori for fun, implying a good relationship between the two. However, Hidenori does get teased by him quite a bit.