Hana Hara
Appearance:
Hana is a very short young woman with chin-length brown hair and violet eyes. Her chest is flat as a board, but she has wider than average hips. She is most often seen wearing a facemask, so as to conceal her large buck teeth.
Personality:
Extremely standoffish and tempermental, most stay clear of the “Tiny Terror”, as she’s been dubbed by her peers. Manage to get close to her however, and you’ll see a skittish, clumsy girl who- most surprisingly of all, has an extremely sweet, playful side.
Background:
Hana was born and raised in Tokyo. At the age of six, her parents moved back to their hometown of Kabocha, having failed to make a new, successful life for themselves in the big city. Tragically, they would die in an automobile accident just a month after the move, leaving Hana in the custody of her abusive paternal Aunt Homura.
At some point during her schooling, there was an incident that made her hate Lisbeth Hanezawa more than anything, turning her into a ruthless bully and the “Tiny Terror.”
Plot:
Introductory Arc:
Twelve Years ago, six year old Hana has her lunch money stolen by a vending machine.
She’s met by a young Leo Tachibana, who gives her a pink frosted Donut. Wanting it to be an equal trade, the young Hana gifts him her stuffed purple bunny.
We first see Hana in the present at Kabocha High, where she trips on Leo’s cane propped up against a desk. She immediately threatens him, only to be threatened in turn by the Class President, Kimi. When lunch begins and Leo presents the donuts he’s made for the class, Hana leaves the room.
While attempting to break into one of the school vending machines, Hana realizes that Leo is watching him from the bushes. She goes to threaten him once more… only for the boy to faint in front of her. Hana freaks out, thinking that she’s gonna get blamed, but Leo regains consciousness quickly. When he begins fretting about his missing cane, Hana gives him the baseball bat she was using to break into the vending machine. When Leo asks Hana her name, Hana’s heart starts beating out of her chest, and she runs away…
At the end of the day, Hana is stopped from leaving class by Kimi, who demands that she stay behind and perform her cleaning duties, lest she report her to the staff. Hana begrudgingly begins to clean, noticing all the half-eaten donuts scattered throughout the classroom. Her stomach rumbling, she decides to take a bite out of one of them… only to go into a complete frenzy, devouring every single donut she can find, bloating her belly to a ridiculous degree.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Lisbeth then barges into the room searching for someone. Seeing this, Hana runs over to threaten the portly girl, only to bump her bloated gut into Lisbeth’s fat gut, the force of which makes Hana let out a loud burp. Embarrassed, Hana runs out of the classroom as fast as her belly will let her.
Later that evening we see Hana at the train station, talking to a Ms. Masako on the phone about the job she’s starting tomorrow…
Tachibana Women Arc:
We next see Hana waking up in her apartment, where it appears that she lives all by herself. She stumbles to the fridge, angry at herself for even looking when she knew it would be empty. She tries to regain her composure, telling herself that it won’t be empty for long as she stares at an candy corn colored uniform hanging on her door…
Hana arrives at the Kabocha Cafe, her new job. Unfortunately for her, she’s late. Her boss, Masako Takara, is too overwhelmed to spend any time berating her however, demanding that she get to work immediately. To Hana’s chagrin, she finds out that Masako is Leo’s older sister, and he’s been assigned to train her…
Leo tries his best to show Hana the ropes, but the lovestruck boy is a poor teacher. Eventually however, she manages to start balancing some cups on a platter. Everything’s going well until she trips on a loose floorboard, spilling water all over herself and Leo. Hana is filled with the fear of getting fired, but Masako assures her that her job is safe.
After the cafe closes for the night, Masako sits Hana down for dinner, despite the small girl’s protests. Masako struggles to hide the fact that she knows Leo has a crush on her, accidentally referring to Hana as a “Tachibana Woman.” She genuinely wants to help Hana though, something Hana vehemently rejects. Hana doesn’t want handouts.
Returning back to her apartment, Hana broods over the day in the shower, unable to get Leo’s face out of her head. As she gets out, she hears a knock at the door. It’s her aunt, Homura Hara. She’s been drinking, and immediately demands rent money from Hana. The drunk woman berates Hana, her dead parents, and the “fat pigs” she’s began working for. Through gritted teeth, Hana tells her she’ll have the rent money by the end of the week, slamming the door and breaking down in tears.
As she lays down to sleep, Hana tearily dreams of her parents, and the last Christmas and Birthday she spent with them.
Fitness Exam Arc:
The next day, Hana is smoking by the vending machines. It’s a bad habit she’s picked up, stealing cigarettes from her aunt when she passes out drunk. She’s met by Leo, who tries returning the baseball bat she gave him a couple days earlier. She grumbles, hoping he’d keep the thing, but begrudgingly takes it back- only if he promises to leave her alone, as she’s nothing but trouble.
Later in the day, as the girls are getting dressed for the fitness exam, Hana bullies Lisbeth for her weight, flinging all sorts of insults at the larger girl. She’s especially venomous, knowing that Lisbeth saw her stuff herself with donuts a few days previously. The altercation is broke up only by an outburst from the energetic Himiko, who both Lisbeth and Hana find annoying…
The new fitness instructor Satou finds Hana to be healthy, if a little underweight. She’s still carrying the baseball bat Leo gave her earlier, which prompts him to ask if she plays- she denies it, but Satou hits her with something else- Masako is his wife, and knowing that Hana works for her, he wants to do everything he can to help her. Hana’s sick and tired of people wanting to help her though, telling him off- though not before asking why a fitness instructor married a woman as large as Masako…
At the end of the school day, Hana continues to bully and berate Lisbeth. This time however, Lisbeth bites back, making fun of how Hana stuffed herself in the classroom. Hana threatens violence, but they’re both interrupted by the arrival of Mako Mochizuki… Hana then slinks away back to the classroom, where she discovers… a heart filled with Donut Holes?!
Kabocha Curves Club Arc:
Hana tries throwing away the donut holes, coming up with the theory that Lisbeth left them for her as some kind of sick joke… She’s unable to resist their heavenly temptation however, and stuffs herself silly with them. Finding them to not nearly be enough (despite bloating her belly a fair bit) she looks all over the package to find out where they came from, stumbling across an address for the Tachinana bakery…
Calling Masako to inform her that she’ll be late, Hana makes her way over to the Tachibana bakery, which is in a part of town her aunt had forbade her from traveling to. Walking in, she’s surprised to be met with Ryoko Tachibana, Leo and Masako’s mother. Ryoko is less than thrilled to see her though, having been told by Lisbeth how much of a bully Hana is.
Hana sheepishly asks if Ryoko has any donuts left, and after a tense interaction over “charity”, where Hana once more defiantly states that she doesn’t want handouts, she’s given a few donuts by Ryoko… which Hana immediately starts eating at the counter.
To her disappointment, the donuts don’t taste nearly as good as the ones she had in the classroom, something she unintentionally says out loud. Thinknig that Hana is insulting her, Ryoko begins berating Hana- The small girl can barely defend herself, as she begins having strange flashbacks to a half-remembered time when she was in the bakery.
Barely managing to snap out of it, Hana tells Ryoko to go to hell, storming out of the bakery with tears in her eyes. The idea that Lisbeth, Ryoko and all the Tachibanas are plotting against her stuck in her head…
Walking down the street, she’s met by Leo leaving Burger Bat. She forcefully tells him off, as heavy rain begins to fall throughout town. Hana’s completely lost in anger, mumbling about how she’ll quit her job, how she’ll do “what mom did” to get by… and that’s when she realizes something, the reason why she never went to that part of town. It’s where her parents died. Falling to the ground in a haze of emotions as the rain intensifies, Leo catches up to Hana, trying to figure out what’s wrong. Hana then passes out in his arms.
Hana then wakes up in what she finds out to be Masako’s room above the Kabocha Cafe. Leo is sitting in a chair next to her. She flies into a rage when Leo compliments her teeth, realizing that he removed her mask while she was sleeping. Hana broods once more about not wanting help, handouts, anything from the Tachibanas, knowing they support Lisbeth. Leo tries to ask her what happened between her and Lisbeth, but Hana snaps that it’s none of his business.
Hana tries to go downstairs and get to work, but Masako stops her in the doorframe, telling her to rest. She frets about money, but she’s assured she’ll get her full pay for the night. Hana again protests against handouts, but the grumbling of her stomach shuts her up. Masako sends Leo down to get something for the small girl to eat.
Leo arrives with a homecooked meal, something Masako is hesitant to give Hana, knowing how bad Leo’s cooking is- Hana absolutely adores it however, sending her into the same heavenly state the Donuts did. She’s not quite able to put two and two together though that Leo baked the donuts…
The food is good enough however, for Hana to do something she hasn’t done in a long time- smile.
Teenage Dirtbags Arc:
Hana didn’t show up to school the following day- something that greatly concerned Leo. He’d find out later however, that Hana had managed to go to work, going with Masako to pick up Leo in the rain that evening. Leo is shocked to see her, and she’s shocked to see that he has Krissy with him.
Masako offers Krissy a job at the cafe, something Hana greatly protests against, seeing Krissy as “annoying.”
A few days later, we see Hana and Krissy working the cafe. Masako has given them super-skimpy uniforms, something Hana is having a meltdown over, threatening to quit. Masako assures her she can change, but immediately has severe pregnancy pains. Hana rushes over to help, and Masako says she doesn’t know how much longer she’ll be able to run the cafe without a manager to help…
Hybrid Rainbow Arc:
Two weeks later, Hana is next seen in swim class, concerned over her weight, as her clothes have been getting tighter recently. As she’s getting dressed back into her uniform, she’s surprised to find herself bullied by Lisbeth- calling her fat and showing off her recent weight loss. This flies Hana into a rage, further confirming the idea that Lisbeth is the one making those donuts for her, all in a ploy to humiliate her and turn the tables. It turns into an all-out war in the locker room, Himiko joining Lisbeth and Krissy joining Hana. Lisbeth threatens to Hana expelled and Hana- fearing the larger girl, runs off half-dressed.
Running through the hallway, she has the misfortune of once more running into Leo, who was running himself in the halls. The two collide together, crashing to the floor. Leo, shellshocked to see Hana mostly nude, faints immediately. Hana, needing a place to get dressed, runs into a janitor’s closet to do so. In the closet, she calms herself about her weight, but Leo seeing her like that has her heart racing…
Walking back to the classroom, she’s met by Yui Matsui, who initially seems like she has something to tell Hana, only to immediately change the subject. Confused, Hana makes her way in, only to find a box full of massive, overstuffed eclair donuts… She does everything in her power to resist, but ultimately gives in, stuffing herself like a wild animal. Thes donuts are different, however. They’re heavenly, yes… but they’re also sensual, filling Hana with a strange sexual pleasure. Belly stuffed to the brim, she collapses to the ground in an orgasmic blur…
Relationships:
Leo: Hana can’t stop running into Leo, be it at school, work, on the street… and the sweet blonde boy can’t help but help her, much to Hana’s chagrin. It’s made even worse by the feeling her heart gets when she sees him, a feeling she can’t explain.
Lisbeth: An unknown incident from when they were children has filled Hana with an intense hatred for Lisbeth, bullying and mocking the larger girl whenever she can.
Masako: Masako has become a surrogate older sister for Hana, becoming the only person she feels like she can really trust- were it not for Masako’s constant teasing.
Homura: Homura’s abusive aunt. Hana teeters between total fear and hatred for the woman, constantly afraid she’ll kick her out on the street.
Trivia:
-At an earlier stage of development for the character, Hana was intended to have a massive scar run down her lips rather than buck teeth. She also had purple highlights in her hair.