Tōru Ishikawa

Ishikawa cuts a good-looking figure, with a fair complexion, a tall and athletic build, and short purple hair combed over toward the right. His eyes carry the same purple hue. Around school he most often turns up in his uniform worn loosely, the white button-up shirt pushed to his elbows over dark slacks. On other days he layers in the school sweater or blazer and adds black athletic wristbands marked with a hot-pink stripe down the center.

Ishikawa starts out visibly territorial, shooting glares at Miyamura whenever the latter chats with Hori, and he shows a real temper: in Chapter 12 a disagreement with Miyamura over whether Hori might like him boils over into an actual fight. Even then his decency shows through, as he attempts to apologize mid-scuffle and afterward owns the blame, regretting that he lost control. That kind heart carries the rest of his arc. He settles into being one of Miyamura's tightest friends, makes peace with Hori and Miyamura dating, and lets go of his own feelings more smoothly than most would.

Within the cast Ishikawa is generally framed as the ordinary, grounded member, his one quirk being the strange dreams he has. He reads as straightforward and quietly cool, popular enough to strike up friendships even with harder-to-reach classmates like Watabe. Athletic, considerate, and reliably calm outside of the rare moments that genuinely rile him, he consistently puts his friends ahead of himself, tolerates Shū's antics better than anyone, and defuses conflict with ease. He will jokingly call his friends idiots or swat at Miyamura, yet the affection underneath is obvious, and the others readily describe him as a good guy who adapts to any situation.

His feelings for Hori define his early chapters. He tries to keep the crush hidden, though even the famously oblivious Miyamura catches on, and after Hori turns him down he avoids her for a stretch, at one point fleeing in tears when she presses him about Miyamura's given name. Over time his initial read of her proves wrong, the two grow into genuine friends, and his lingering feelings finally fade as he begins pulling toward Yuki Yoshikawa, after which he happily roots for Hori and Miyamura as a couple.

With Miyamura he is both close companion and former rival for Hori's affection. Ishikawa was among the very first, alongside Hori, to befriend the quiet classmate, and he became the first to learn of Miyamura's hidden tattoos and ear piercings. Their bond runs blunt and teasing, close enough that even Miyamura's mother knows Ishikawa well from his frequent visits. His romance with Yoshikawa builds as the two spend more time together in the wake of their best friends pairing off; the pair even stage a fake relationship so Yoshikawa can decline Akane Yanagi's confession. Matters peak when Sakura Kōno confesses to Ishikawa: rather than accept, he tells Yoshikawa he would turn Kōno down and wants to stay by her side. Whether or not they ever slap a label on it, the two behave like a couple in every practical sense, and Yoshikawa keeps a sewing kit on hand because he is forever losing his shirt buttons.

Ishikawa treats Kōno kindly but never returns her interest, having realized he prefers Yoshikawa. His friendship with Shū Iura reaches back to elementary and middle school, making him Iura's closest confidant and the person who best knows Iura's home life, even as he bluntly tells him to pipe down when the noise gets to be too much. The family's housekeeper, Kayo Yashiro, looks after him and likes to tease him about Yoshikawa whenever he walks her home. A handful of quirks round him out: an unusually long tongue he claims is hereditary, a Libra birthday, an inability to eat melon, a fondness for action video games and Sakura-flavored cookies, and a notably wealthy family.