#'gee ash this is a funny opinion to have for someone who has stated they enjoy quail bfs tho-'

[ashen-laguz]

taps mic yes hello i'm here to reiterate that the aro hitori truthing that's been going around hatotumblr recently is so cool and true.

like on one hand no shame to anyone who reads him differently, but also How. he is probably the single fictional character who reads the most Aro that i've ever seen. this man's priorities always feel very focused around love imo - mostly that familial love for nageki and the other hatohouse kids of course. he always seems chill and happy to put himself in positions to help out his students as well tho - he's always so patient with even the most difficult of students, he offers to walk hiyoko home... helping anghel at comiket is absolutely going way more out of his way then he needs to, and yet he does so happily!

yeah yeah he says in his own route that he's "lost his ability to love" (read; i absolutely don't think he has, i think he's just terrified of getting too close to anyone and thus refuses to admit to himself when he does Care nowadays) and maybe part of this is just part of being a good teacher, but there's a lot there outside of school hours that's going very out-of-his-way that he sure as hell aint getting paid for that like. you cannot convince me he doesn't care for his students a lot. i cannot personally interpret that as anything besides "he cares about them and wants to be a good mentor figure and be sure they're being well taken care of" which is def it's own form of love

these are def two of the three main examples, and if you notice, neither of 'em are romantic. It's moreso a caretaker kind of love, something akin to a fatherly/older-brother figure (obviously more literally in the case of the hatohouse, but still)

of course the elephant in the room here is the whole thing with kazuaki-kun, but like

kazuaki's intense vulnerability and loneliness would be the exact sort of thing to draw out the caretaker out of hitori. that older brother instinct of "this person is significantly more vulnerable then me and i have the power to help" which

idk about you but that kind of love/care don't exactly sound like a romantic one to me lol. it's a very... imbalanced love, as the 'caretaker' is kind of pushing themself into a position of more power then the other instead of having an equal partnership. regardless of what kazuaki's feelings about the whole thing were, or what label they may or may not have used, that does not sound like a romantic love to me in the slightest

so like. you have this character who is so focused around love and caring for folks... and yet, somehow none of it is romantic. he never chases after the idea of romance, or shows any real interest in it or anything. leaves out a whole specific type of love despite his character motivations otherwise being driven by love

and idk about you but i can't really think of any explanation that makes more sense as to why he'd ignore a whole type of love then "he doesn't experience romantic love"

so ye. aro hitori.