Tooru Ishikawa (石川 透 Ishikawa Tōru?) is a supporting character in the Horimiya series. He attends Katagiri Senior High School, where he is enrolled in Class 3-1 and is a close friend of Izumi Miyamura.
He was initially known to have a crush on Kyouko Hori early on in the series.
Appearance[]
Tooru is a handsome teenage boy with a fair complexion, short purple hair swept onto the right, matching purple-colored eyes, and a tall but athletic figure.
At school, Tooru is most often seen in his school uniform, consisting of a white button-up shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows and dark-colored slacks. Occasionally, he wears his school's sweater or blazer, accompanied by black athletic wristbands detailed with a hot-pink stripe in the middle.
Personality[]
Initially, Tooru seems to be a very jealous type of person which is shown when he glares at Izumi Miyamura when he talks to Kyouko Hori. He seems to have somewhat of a temper, as seen in Chapter 12 when he ends up fighting with Miyamura when he (Miyamura) kept waving off Ishikawa's constant pressing on of his theories on whether or not Hori has a crush on Miyamura. However, he expresses regret about losing his temper after the fight, and insisted it was his fault to begin with. He also tried to apologize mid fight (before Miyamura struck him for startling him) which is a display of his kind-heartedness from early on in the series.
Ultimately, he becomes one of Miyamura's closest friends and accepts that he and Hori have started dating, and moves on relatively quickly despite crushing on Hori for quite some time. He also has feelings for Yuki, and spends a lot of time with her. They are usually seen talking, playing games, or teasing eachother.
Tooru is commonly shown as "the normal one" out of all the characters, with his only odd characteristic being his dreams. He’s pretty straightforward yet also considered “cool” by the other characters, particularly due to his habits and the language he uses. He has many friends, and is even able to befriend people like Watabe. He’s very athletic, and he seems to be very kindhearted and considerate, this is particularly noted by Miyamura, Hori, Yuki and Kouno. He’s usually seen calm and collected in most situations, despite his harsh temper when things really, really irritate him. He cares about all of his friends a very large amount, whether they’re close to him or not, and is plenty respectful aswell. Even when he’s usually seen playfully calling his close friends morons or lightly smacking them (usually Miyamura), deep down, he cares for them more than anything and is willing to make some sacrifices for their betterment and ease.
He’s able to handle Shuu very well, despite his loudness, unlike most characters. There are various situations where he puts his friends before himself, and he tends to think highly of them too, which is seen in a scene where he was trying to think of Watabe, his friend, positively, even after he found out that the latter owns a “Miyamura” folder, full of pictures of him. Tooru tends to handle most situations very well and is good at averting conflict, particularly because he puts other people before himself. Other characters tend to call Tooru a “good guy” and he is also able to adapt to situations quickly and play along very well.
Relationships[]
Kyouko Hori[]
When Tooru is first introduced, it is clear that he has a crush on Hori. Although he tries to hide it, even Izumi Miyamura, who usually acts clueless about love, was the first to notice. After Hori rejects him, he does not face her personally for a while, and when she tries to question him about Miyamura's first name, he dramatically runs away in tears.
Originally, Hori was unsure of how Tooru was truly like, as they weren’t particularly close, and she just assumed that he was another one of those stereotypical guys in cliques at school who ‘can’t stand seeing girls without makeup.’ Overtime, they became closer friends instead of just friends at school, and Hori has since learnt that her original assumption of him was wrong, and that he is actually a really kind person who is always looking out for people and the good in them.
Despite this, he still remains close friends with both Hori and Miyamura. Even though he has accepted Hori and Miyamura's relationship, he still appears to have lingering feelings for Hori for a while, occasionally making him depressed or confused. Eventually, even these lingering feelings vanish as he begins his relationship with Yuki Yoshikawa.
Hori and Tooru have known eachother since the start of highschool, and they are good friends. As Tooru’s feelings for Hori faded overtime, he grew closer with both Miyamura and Hori as well as started to cheer them on as a couple, even exclaiming that they were super cute and heartwarming as a couple after seeing them together in one of his dreams (this indicates Tooru’s subtle character development and growing closeness with his friends through the form of his dreams.) They are frequently seen together and talking to eachother over the course of the story, usually in class. Both Hori and Tooru admire eachother and think of the other as a good friend/person.
Izumi Miyamura[]
Tooru sees Miyamura as a close friend and originally a love rival. Although he seems to have claimed to have given up on Kyouko Hori early on so that Miyamura can pursue her, he had slight lingering feelings for quite some time after that, until they eventually tapered away overtime as he started to see Hori as more of a close friend than a crush, and began crushing on Yuki instead, aswell as pursuing a relationship with her. Tooru was one of first people, beside Hori, to befriend Miyamura, and they are seen to be quite close, as Tooru was also the first to know and discover Miyamura's secrets (this being both his tattoos and ear piercings).
He isn't afraid to laugh or tease when something embarrassing happens to Miyamura, as they are extremely close friends, but this also means he can be quite blunt with him. They are frequently seen together, and their relationship has grown a lot since the start. At the beginning, as Tooru had a crush on Hori, he frequently had jealousy issues and in the webcomics, even dreamt of killing the guy (albeit experiencing a ton of guilt afterwards when he woke up from the dreams.) Despite this, they became friends after just a few days of meeting eachother, and started to hang out together extremely frequently almost instantly.
Initially, Tooru had to constantly remind Miyamura that they’re indeed close friends and Miyamura doesn’t have to feel guilty for dating Hori while knowing Tooru liked her first. As Tooru’s feelings for Hori faded overtime, he grew closer with both Miyamura and Hori and started to cheer them on as a couple, even exclaiming that they were super cute and heartwarming as a couple after seeing them together in one of his dreams (this indicates Tooru’s subtle character development and growing closeness with his friends through the form of his dreams.) Tooru is Miyamura’s closest school friend, and they are close enough for Miyamura’s mother to know Tooru quite well, indicating he visits frequently.
Yuki Yoshikawa[]
As Kyouko Hori and Izumi Miyamura began their relationship as their best friends, Ishikawa and Yoshikawa also began to spend more time together. This leads them to become closer until they develop romantic feelings for each other. Although neither of them is aware of the other's feelings (Ishikawa believes that Yoshikawa doesn't like him, and Yoshikawa believes that Ishikawa likes Sakura Kouno), they agree to pretend like they're dating, ostensibly so that Yoshikawa can reject Akane Yanagi's confession.
Things come to a head once Kouno confesses to Ishikawa. Yoshikawa, thinking that Ishikawa will accept Kouno and they start dating, becomes depressed. Just as Yoshikawa is about to resign herself to this, Ishikawa tells her that he would turn down Kouno and that he wants to continue being with Yoshikawa.
In Chapter 110 it is hinted that they are actually dating, as Ishikawa says "she's cheating!". However, in Chapter 125 (piece. 2), Yoshikawa confirms they are not dating, although it is unclear about the timestamps between these two occurences mentioned above. In the original webcomic, Chapter 119 includes Ishikawa asking Yoshikawa if they are dating. They don't give a definitive answer, however it is clear that they know they mutually like each other. Whether they are officially dating or not, we still know they do romantic things together, as they have claimed that they are basically a couple by now, doing everything couples do, and simply don’t like putting a label on things. They are often seen talking to eachother, teasing eachother, playing games together, etc.
Yoshikawa carries around a sewing kit to school simply because she knows Ishikawa frequently loses his uniform sleeve buttons. We also know Ishikawa spends all of his holidays (Christmas, New Years, Valentines Day) with Yoshikawa and she comes over to his house frequently to game. We see various chapters of Yoshikawa getting flustered at Ishikawa’s antics, Ishikawa worrying about her, and other characters talking about their closeness.
Sakura Kouno[]
At first, Ishikawa is attracted to Kouno, who is chasing after him. However, after spending much time with Yuki Yoshikawa, Ishikawa finds that he's more attracted to her than Kouno. Eventually, despite (or maybe because) Ishikawa and Yoshikawa pretending to be dating, Kouno finally finds the courage to confess her feelings to Ishikawa. While Kouno says she doesn't need a response and only confesses to satisfy herself, Ishikawa says he would have turned her down anyway.
Shū Iura[]
Ishikawa and Iura are childhood friends. Whenever Ishikawa isn't with Yuki Yoshikawa or Izumi Miyamura, there's a good chance he's with Iura. Having been together through elementary and middle school, Ishikawa is Iura's best friend and confidant and puts up with many of his jokes. However, because of this, Ishikawa tends to be extremely blunt with Iura, telling him to be quiet when he's too noisy (which is pretty often). Tooru was the first to know, and knows the most, about Iura’s home and family life. They are seen together both inside and outside of school, and are usually caught up in the same antics. If Iura ever needs someone to talk to regarding his home life, Ishikawa is likely the first person he will go to.
Kayo Yashiro[]
Yashiro is the helper of the Ishikawa's, who is shown to be taking good care of Tooru and asking him about Yuki Yoshikawa whenever he takes the schoolgirl home.
Trivia[]
- Tooru is noted to have a very long tongue, which he claims is an inherited feature.
- Tooru's zodiac sign is Libra.
- Tooru is allergic to/cannot eat melon.
- Tooru likes to play action video games.
- Tooru's favourite cookie flavour is Sakura.
- Tooru's family is extremely wealthy.