Natsuki Hashiba (羽柴 夏樹 Hashiba Natsuki) is the main protagonist of the Nijiiro Days series. He is a hopeless romantic who immerses in his delusions of love. He fell in love with Anna Kobayakawa on Christmas Eve when she, dressed up as a Santa, gave him tissues after he got dumped by his ex-girlfriend. He is commonly referred to as Nacchan (なっちゃん) by his friends.
Appearance
Natsuki is a young man with an average build who is considerably shorter than some of his friends, but later grows taller in time. He is also noted to have a cute face. Natsuki has short, slightly spiked and messy blond hair. He originally had black hair but dyed it to blond when he started high school. He has light brown eyes which are sometimes seen as being blue-greenish in the manga. Natsuki is usually depicted in his school uniform.
Personality
Natsuki is very shy and clumsy, especially when dealing with love. He is also quite a delusional guy and often ends up daydreaming. It is often stated that he is prone to more "feminine" tendencies, in that he is very emotional and is more prone to crying for trivial things, which is why he sometimes gets teased for being a little girly and maiden at heart. He is an honest and genuine guy, but also very innocent as he becomes embarrassed regarding different things that his friends normally don't have any problem with, in which can lead to Natsuki even fainting. At the same time, Natsuki is very kind, polite and overly considerate of others, to the point that his relationship with Anna progresses at a very slow pace and never doubts other people. His kindness goes to the point to where he easily puts trust in people and would never do anything to get even just because someone else did it to him, but this trait can also even be used against him. Natsuki thinks it's quite pathetic of him but wouldn't be able to commit a bad deed due to his kind heart and patient personality.
Natsuki is also very expressive and is easy to read because of his facial expression when he shows his different emotions and is therefore said to be like an open book. He is very optimistic, cheerful and somewhat jolly, which is also why his friends say that he's very fun to be around. According to his friends, Natsuki is usually crying, troubled or has a weird look on his face, but if he just smiled more and looked more passionate, they theorize that Natsuki would've been really popular. And although he is shy and isn't very good at initiating conversations with strangers, Natsuki is easy-going, understanding, carefree and can accept other people's fault without any trouble, which is why his friends say he's the "boss" of the group that brought them all of them together when they were fighting when they first got to know each other. He is also very straightforward and does his very best in everything and doesn't give up until he accomplishes his goal. At times, he can get very awkward and nervous easily, which often leads to him impulsively saying whatever in his mind in which he sometimes embarrassed himself. He is very positive, supportive and encouraging towards his friends and although he gets teased by them a lot, he values their friendship very much and cares for them all deeply. He has a good sense of dignity as well, as when he found out his ex-girlfriend was a gold digger, he refused to go on the date with her, although he didn't want to believe that she was a person like that.
Natsuki had been love with Anna for about 2 years, but didn't confess due to his shyness and his lack of courage to do so (while Anna herself went at her own pace and has little experience in identifying her feelings as love). Around Anna, he becomes very embarrassed, flustered, shy and cannot contain his embarrassment as well as happiness. Both of them didn't realize their mutual love per say, until later on in which they confessed to each other.
Background
Natsuki lives with his mother and two older sisters. His sisters are hostesses who are occasionally traveling to other countries.
Natsuki was a member of the tennis club in middle school. He had fun and got along with one of his seniors, Imagawa, and was also friends with a girl named Aya Ohno, who was his sister's junior, which is also why he joined the tennis club in the first place. However, he quit the club due to a problem related to Imagawa; after Imagawa confessed to Aya, she told him she would've given him a chance if his face was as cute as Natsuki's. This left him heartbroken and later mad and cold towards Natsuki and dared to leave the club. After that, Natsuki continued with the club with a constant fear of Imagawa who was very harsh and mean towards him, but Natsuki eventually quit later on.
Natsuki first met his best friends Tomoya Matsunaga, Tsuyoshi Naoe and Keiichi Katakura when he first started high school. He couldn't make any new friends at first at initially hung out with his middle school friends. However, Natsuki, Keiichi, Tsuyoshi and Mattsun later became friends mostly thanks to Natsuki, as when they were on a school trip, they were in the same group though the other boys didn't particularly get along with each other which is why they constantly fought and argued. Natsuki got tired of it and stepped up and told them he just thought it was absurd and just wanted to become friends with them. The agreed and apologized and later became best friends. His friends are also thankful towards Natsuki for what he did, and Natsuki is really happy as well to have met them.
Plot
Just before the start of the series, Natsuki had dated a girl for two months, Yuri Kobayashi, who confessed to him. He was very much in love with her which is why he denied the idea that she was a gold digger from his friends when they saw her show her true personality. Before they went on a date for Christmas Eve, Natsuki bought a muffler for her, though Yuri became disappointed in that since she had hoped for something better. After that, Natsuki realized his friends were right and refused to continue with the date and broke up with her. Heartbroken, Natsuki sat alone and cried with a runny nose, wondering why it was such a sad Christmas, but he was then approached by a girl in a Santa costume who handed him a tissue. This made Natsuki cheer up and in return, he gave her the scarf that was originally meant for his girlfriend. When he realized that the girl, Anna Kobayakawa, went to the same school as him and on top of that, also wore the same muffler he gave her. He was really interested to get know her and although they were some misunderstandings that she dated Yuji Katakura, they cleared this afterward. After visiting a karaoke place, he sees her working there, and she remembers him in which at this moment, he immediately falls in love with her. They then start to properly get to know each other to which Natsuki tries to get so close to her as possible.
Relationships
Anna Kobayakawa
After Anna gave Natsuki a tissue when he was dumped, he immediately cheered up a little and fell in love with her, which is quite obvious to other characters which Natsuki himself doesn't notice. When Natsuki saw that Anna went to the same school as him, he wanted to befriend her and although Natsuki did embarrass himself around her at first, they quickly became friends and Anna joined the group along with Mari. Even though Natsuki is very shy, he always tries to talk to and meet Anna whenever he can, and he was also initially the most straightforward one in the relationship as he often took the initiative. Despite that, his shyness and awkwardness around her prevent him from taking any major steps but despite that, he is very close to Anna and has gotten closer to her throughout the series. Their romantic relationship progresses quite slow as Natsuki is very shy and because Anna does things at her own pace. It had been hinted several that Anna likes Natsuki as well, as she has shown embarrassment and jealousy. Natsuki views Anna as a very special, one of a kind girl and becomes happy whenever he can meet her. He can become very shy and embarrassed in her presence in which he is prone to blushing and sometimes stuttering. He thinks his shyness is quite embarrassing but Anna think it's kind of cute. Since they are in different classes, they don't meet very much at school but often initiate conversations whenever they do meet each other. They are closer outside of school and have done many things together, such as going home from school together, go to cafes and convenience stores together. They also went on the Heart Shaped Ferris Wheel alone together, which is said to be a cart of happiness that will guarantee requited love and long-lasting relationships. In an artwork, the two of them are seen to be bound of the "red string of fate" a string between destined lovers.
Natsuki kisses Anna.
During the winter season, Natsuki and Anna decide to meet each other on Christmas Eve. Natsuki waited outside for a long time while Anna went to get something, later revealed to be her present for him. When she finally came back, she accidentally fell on his chest and on that moment, Natsuki decided to confess to her. He told her that he loved her and that he wanted to go out with her although this was only said in his mind. And then, Natsuki kissed her on the spur of the moment. However, soon after, Natsuki fell unconscious due to the cold and didn't remember anything about the kiss nor the attempted confession. This made Anna depressed and sad, but she initially didn't know why, but she later realized that she had also been in love with Natsuki and that is the reason why she was so sad and disappointed that he didn't remember the kiss. However, she decided to keep quiet about the kiss. After this, they interact with each other normally but Natsuki still sees Anna as a precious person and holds a bright flame for her, and vice versa.
Natsuki states that he falls more in love with Anna after each day passing; he has a strong love for her and is head-over-heels for her. He sees Anna as the cutest girl he knows and someone he wants to make her happy and smile, due to her tendency to not smile very much and because of his love for her smile. He becomes very happy for the smallest things Anna does and becomes very happy whenever she takes the initiative too. He cannot contain his happiness around her and whenever she's happy, Natsuki feels really overjoyed as well. Natsuki also promised to Mari Tsutsui that he would always cherish Anna and never make her sad, as well as keep her his top one priority. Although he did this best in his own way, things didn't go well and he sometimes failed, which made him feel pathetic, anxious and depressed and show her his lame side. They also went through a lot of hardships regarding love, but at the end of it, they always smiled together. He is very understanding of Anna as he belated his confession after Anna was pained from Mochizuki's confession to not hurt Anna any further. And because of that, Natsuki has never thought about giving up on Anna and notes that his sincere feelings for her would never change. Natsuki has also considered confessing to Anna several times but cannot do so since he often gets interrupted or can't get himself to confess, but later gets the real determination to do so since he realized how precious the days he spent with Anna were, describing it as a "dream", wishing that those days would continue forever. They didn't realize that their love for each other was mutual for a long while, until later where Natsuki finally confessed and both realized their feelings were mutual, and now they're officially in a relationship.
Tomoya, Tsuyoshi and Keiichi
Natsuki has a very close relationship with his three male best friends: Keiichi, Tsuyopon and Mattsun. Though they always search for ways to advance Natsuki's relationship with Anna, and they also are prone to making fun of his clumsiness and shyness. Natsuki also supports and cares for his friends and enjoys fooling around and enjoy their high school life with them. They met each other two years ago and it was mainly thanks to Natsuki that everyone became friends, and he still remembers the day they met and became friends fondly.
Wataru Mochizuki
Mochizuki and Natsuki are friends since Keiichi frequently hangs around the basketball team. Although they are in different classes, they have had a steady relationship, but when Mochizuki later revealed that he had feelings for Anna and sat beside her in the classroom, Natsuki was left in dismay. When Mochizuki later revealed that he was going to confess to Anna on their school trip Kyoto, Natsuki felt like he had been very easy-going regarding his feelings for Anna in which he became a bit insecure but decided to confess to Anna as well. This means that they are rivals in love and Natsuki is a bit jealous of Mochizuki since he is the same class as Anna and sits beside her, but Mochizuki says that he is also actually really envious of him due to his closeness to Anna outside of school. Although Mochizuki interrupted Natsuki's confession to Anna, Natsuki just can't seem to dislike him and couldn't do the same when Mochizuki confessed to Anna, even though he really wanted to find Anna. After Mochizuki got rejected by Anna, Natsuki was a bit shocked but got anxious to hear that Anna already had someone else she liked (Natsuki being clueless about it being himself.)
After this, Natsuki and Mochizuki's relationship become a bit distant, but they still remain friends. When Natsuki felt nervous and the lack of courage to confess to Anna, Mochizuki was actually the one who gave him some sort of a pep-talk, like talking about how having someone to like is really fun, which becomes one of the reasons to Natsuki's new determination to confess to Anna.
Gallery
Trivia
- His favorite food is noodles (especially udon).
- His least favorite food is ginkgo nuts.
- His favorite sport is tennis.
- He can play the piano.
- He likes to read shoujo manga.
| Male Characters | Natsuki Hashiba • Tomoya Matsunaga • Keiichi Katakura • Tsuyoshi Naoe • Imagawa • Masaomi Tsutsui • Shinsuke Nezu • Taizo Sanada • Toshimune Kakei • Usami • Wataru Mochizuki • Yuji Katakura | |
|---|---|---|
| Female characters | Anna Kobayakawa • Aya Ohno • Ishida • Kaori Chiba • Mari Tsutsui • Nabe • Nozomi Matsunaga • Rina • Satomi • Yukiko Asai • Yuri Kobayashi | |